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🚨In the News

Owens Brockway is shutting down their 70-year-old Portland glass plant, cutting 90 jobs to eliminate "redundant capacity." And this isn't their first rodeo. Two years ago, they already slashed 70% of their workforce blaming the wine industry downturn. Now it's capacity optimization.

This feels like a preview of what's coming. Legacy facilities caught between regulatory pressures, market shifts, and the brutal math of "optimization."

🏭 Manufacturing Minute

Three stonecutters. Same job, same pay. Wildly different results.

First guy: "I'm cutting stone. Hate every second."
Second guy: "Paying the bills. It's honest work."
Third guy: "I'm building a cathedral that will stand for centuries."

Sound familiar? Walk your plant floor. You'll find all three.

We spend millions on fancy MES systems and AI dashboards, then wonder why adoption stinks. We debate endlessly about ROI while our operators treat new tech like another burden.

Here's the truth nobody wants to hear: Your digital transformation isn't failing because of technology. It's failing because your people don't see the cathedral.

You need to be looking closer at discretionary effort.

Discretionary effort is the work above the amount required to maintain employment.

Stone cutter #1: Does the minimum. Your new system collects garbage data.
Stone cutter #2: Follows procedures. Your system works, barely.
Stone cutter #3: Suggests improvements. Your system becomes game-changing.

That third guy? He's not working harder—he's working differently. Because he sees the bigger picture.

Here’s the question every plant manager should ask:

"Do my people see stones or cathedrals?"

If your maintenance tech sees "another sensor to troubleshoot" instead of "helping our community stay competitive," you've got stone cutter #1.

If your operator sees "data entry" instead of "improving quality for families who depend on our products," you've got stone cutter #2.

The cathedral builders? They're already thinking three moves ahead, suggesting improvements you never considered.

Culture isn't about pizza parties and motivational posters.

Culture is the spoken and unspoken rules that govern reward and punishment.

When you promote the guy who "keeps his head down" over the one asking "why do we do it this way?"—you just told everyone that stones matter more than cathedrals.

Great cultures outperform great strategies. Every time.

Your next digital transformation project will succeed or fail based on one thing: whether your people believe they're building something worth building.

Stop talking about efficiency gains and productivity metrics.

Start talking about the cathedral.

P.S., Whether you're trying to make sense of Industry 4.0, struggling with legacy systems, or just need a sounding board from someone who's navigated similar waters, let's talk. Book Your 30-Minute Strategy Call →