Manufacturing Rewired

When I walk a candidate through one of our plants, whether in Michigan, Italy, or the UK, I watch their face change. They came in expecting noise, grime, and repetitive work. What they find is precision tooling, robotics, and engineers troubleshooting live data. By the time we finish the walk, the conversation has already shifted.

I’ve been running global manufacturing operations long enough to know that surprise is the real problem. A 2024 study by Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute projects a need for up to 3.8 million new manufacturing workers by 2033, with roughly 1.9 million potentially going unfilled. More than 65 percent of manufacturers named attracting and retaining talent as their primary challenge. That doesn’t surprise me. What surprises me is how much of it we’re doing to ourselves.

• The pipeline isn’t the problem — candidates are self-selecting out before you ever get the chance to make a case.

• Perception does more damage than a skills gap — and unlike geography or competition, it’s something leaders can actually fix.

• Retention comes down to visibility — people stay when they can see exactly where a role leads, not when you tell them it leads somewhere great.

Three Reasons Manufacturing Can’t Fill Its Roles

Having led plants across the U.S. and Europe, and worked in China during my years at Caterpillar, I’ve seen this from more than one angle. It comes down to three things.

1. Geography. Some facilities sit in semi-rural areas where the talent pool is genuinely smaller, a real constraint that requires a different sourcing strategy.

2. Competition. In urban markets, manufacturing competes against tech, healthcare, and logistics for the same candidates, who often have more flexibility elsewhere.

3. Perception, and the one most within our control. Candidates picture a factory floor from decades ago: dirty, loud, with nowhere to go. That image is costing us people who would thrive in a modern precision environment if they ever saw one.

Reframing Starts on the Plant Floor, Not in a Press Release

When I completed my engineering master’s at Tsinghua University in Mandarin, as the only non-Chinese student in my cohort, I learned that people who thrive in technical environments are the ones who stay curious and adapt fast. That’s exactly the profile manufacturing needs. But most candidates don’t know what the job is, because nobody is showing them.

Reframing means putting candidates inside the work before they decide. Walk them through the plant as the pitch, not a quick add-on at the end of an interview. Show the technology in use. Let a recently hired employee, not HR, not a senior leader, tell them honestly what the role looked like from outside versus what it actually is. 

At our facilities, we supply injection-molded components for medical devices and precision spheres for coordinate measuring machines. A job posting doesn’t communicate that. The plant floor does.

What Actually Keeps People: Paths, Not Perks

Deloitte’s research found that employees are 2.7 times less likely to leave if they feel they’re building skills that matter for their future. People don’t leave because the work is hard. They leave because they can’t see where it goes.

Skills investment only works when it’s attached to a visible path. What moves someone is watching a peer go from line associate to process engineer and understanding exactly how it happened. Mentorship only works with structure, a real meeting cadence, a shared project, accountability on both sides. The relationships I’ve seen stick happen in the middle of a live production problem, not in a scheduled calendar hour.

FAQ

Why is manufacturing struggling to hire even when unemployment is relatively low? There are two separate problems: a skills gap and an applicant gap. Many qualified candidates exist, they’re just not applying because they never considered the industry. Solve the perception problem first and the pool gets bigger fast.

What skills are most in demand right now? Technical manufacturing skills remain foundational, but digital capabilities are catching up, simulation, data analysis, systems integration. 

Is flexible scheduling actually possible on the plant floor? More than most leaders admit. Shift swapping, split shifts, adjusted start times, nearly half of surveyed manufacturers flagged flexible arrangements as one of their most impactful retention tools.

Four Things Leaders Should Do Differently

• Walk candidates through the plant before they accept. Let the work make the case, not the job description.

• Make the career path concrete. Show real people who moved from operator to engineer. Name them. Walk through how it happened.

• Structure mentorship like a project. Set a cadence, define goals for both sides, and follow through. Goodwill alone doesn’t work.

• Answer “where does this lead?” before the interview ends. The leaders who answer it clearly, with real examples, are the ones who close the candidates worth keeping.

Manufacturing has a real story to tell. The industry building medical devices, precision components for electric vehicles, the infrastructure keeping supply chains running, that story sells itself, once people actually see it. Leaders who figure that out stop losing candidates to perception and start building teams that stay.

In an industry traditionally focused on machinery, production lines, and bottom-line results, visibility as a leader can often be overlooked. Yet for executives navigating global industrial manufacturing, ensuring that your work, perspective, and leadership are recognized has become increasingly important.

As president of the Engineered Plastic Components Business Unit at Tsubaki-Nakashima, I’ve seen firsthand how critical it is not just to deliver results, but to make sure those results, and the thinking behind them, are understood across the organization. Leading a multinational business with facilities across Europe, the United Kingdom, and the United States, I carry full profit-and-loss responsibility while guiding more than 100 employees through transformational growth. In that environment, alignment and awareness are just as important as execution.

The Evolution of Manufacturing Leadership

The industrial sector has changed dramatically over the past few decades. Where leaders once relied primarily on technical depth and operational excellence, today’s executives must navigate cultural complexity, digital transformation, and rapidly shifting global markets.

That shift has made visibility a core leadership capability. It’s no longer enough to solve problems, you have to ensure the right stakeholders understand what’s happening, why decisions are being made, and how the business is evolving.

My own path reflects this evolution. After earning a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Iowa State University, I pursued a master’s degree in automotive engineering at Tsinghua University in China, completing all coursework in Mandarin. As the only non-Chinese student in the program, I wrote and defended my thesis entirely in Mandarin.

From internships at John Deere to seven years at Caterpillar, where I worked on dual-brand strategy during China’s industrialization boom—I developed experience across marketing, production engineering, and software support. Later, at DuPont Electronics, I led large portfolios in consumer electronics and supported mergers and acquisitions.

Each of these roles reinforced a consistent lesson: doing the work is only part of the job. Making sure the right people understand the impact of that work is what drives momentum.

Why Visibility Matters in B2B Manufacturing

In manufacturing, influence doesn’t come from visibility for its own sake, it comes from clarity and trust. Teams, peers, and senior leaders need to know who to turn to, who is driving results, and who can connect strategy to execution.

For me, building visibility is about enabling the business. When stakeholders understand our direction and see consistent leadership, decisions move faster and alignment improves. In global organizations, where teams are spread across regions and functions, this becomes even more critical.

My business operates in highly competitive markets, from injection molding to metrology. In crowded spaces, differentiation isn’t just about products, it’s about leadership. When people know your business, understand your strategy, and associate you with execution, it creates an advantage.

Establishing a Clear Presence

Visibility doesn’t happen by accident. It requires a clear point of view and consistent communication.

My approach has been to focus on areas where I bring unique perspective. My global experience provides insight into cross-cultural operations, while fluency in Mandarin offers direct access to one of the world’s most important manufacturing economies. I also bring a perspective shaped by working across engineering, commercial, and strategic roles.

Equally important, I represent a demographic still underrepresented in manufacturing leadership. That adds another dimension to how I show up and contribute—bridging technical expertise with broader business leadership.

Being Known for the Right Things

The goal isn’t to be known everywhere, it’s to be known for something specific and valuable.

Within an organization, that means ensuring people understand what you lead, how you think, and where you add value. Externally, it means contributing to conversations that matter to your industry and peers.

The most meaningful indicators of visibility aren’t metrics like impressions or reach. They’re whether the right people seek your input, whether your perspective is included in key decisions, and whether opportunities come to you because of your reputation.

From Technical Expertise to Leadership Influence

For many engineering-trained professionals, the transition to leadership can be challenging. Technical expertise provides a strong foundation, but influence requires communication, alignment, and presence.

My own journey, from growing up on a farm in Iowa to leading global manufacturing teams, has reinforced the importance of broadening that skill set. International experiences across Australia, Peru, Costa Rica, Taiwan, and China expanded not just my technical knowledge, but my ability to connect across cultures and organizations.

That combination enables me to contribute beyond operations, to strategy, growth, and organizational direction.

Moving Forward

For manufacturing leaders, increasing visibility starts with intention. Tie your efforts to business outcomes. Communicate consistently. Make sure your work, and your team’s work, is understood by the people who matter most.

In a global, fast-moving industry, the leaders who stand out aren’t just those who execute well. They’re the ones who ensure their impact is seen, understood, and trusted across the organization.

As manufacturing continues to evolve, visibility will remain a defining leadership capability, one that connects strong execution with broader influence and long-term opportunity.

Managing a business unit’s profit and loss isn’t just about reading spreadsheets. Most manufacturing executives spend years building technical expertise before they’re handed full P&L responsibility.

Long before I led a global business, I held P&L responsibility at different levels. In commercial roles such as account management, business development, my focus was primarily on driving the top line. As a product manager, the lens shifted to profitability: reducing costs while increasing volume through product improvements and new launches. I didn’t always have direct reports, so much of that work required leading through influence rather than authority.

Then the scope changes.

You become accountable for every dollar coming in and going out: across multiple facilities, countries, and teams. And the real challenge isn’t just tracking the numbers; it’s understanding what drives them and knowing which levers to pull when margins tighten or costs spike unexpectedly.

When I took on P&L responsibility for a global business unit with manufacturing sites across Europe, the UK, and the US, it felt fundamentally different from anything I had managed before. Leading more than 100 employees while balancing competing regional priorities taught me that financial accountability goes beyond financial literacy. It requires operational fluency, cultural awareness, and the ability to make sound decisions—even when you don’t have perfect information.

The Reality Behind the Numbers

Financial performance in manufacturing depends on several interconnected factors:

• Supplier relationships and raw material costs that fluctuate with global markets

• Equipment efficiency and utilization rates across different facilities

• Labor costs and productivity that vary significantly by geography

• Quality metrics that directly impact rework costs and customer retention

• Inventory management that ties up working capital

A 15% increase in raw material costs can erase your gross margin gains if you don't act fast. Renegotiating supplier contracts, adjusting pricing strategies, or finding operational efficiencies becomes urgent. The manufacturing executives who succeed with P&L management build systems that give them real-time visibility into the factors that move their numbers.

Making Decisions Without Perfect Data

Business schools teach you to analyze P&L statements. They don't prepare you for making calls when your European facility has a quality issue, your US plant is short-staffed, and your UK team is requesting capital, all in the same week.

P&L responsibility means choosing between competing priorities with incomplete information. Do you invest in automation that will reduce labor costs but requires significant upfront capital? Do you accept lower margins on a customer that provides volume and stability?

These decisions shape your financial performance, but they're not purely financial questions. They require understanding your market position, your team's capabilities, and your competitive landscape. The leaders who perform well accept that they'll make some wrong calls. They focus on making reversible decisions quickly and irreversible decisions carefully.

What Engineering Doesn't Teach You About Business

Technical backgrounds give manufacturing leaders credibility with engineering teams and customers. You understand the products, the processes, and the quality standards. But engineering training optimizes for different outcomes than business leadership requires.

Engineers solve for precision and repeatability. Business leaders balance tradeoffs between cost, speed, quality, and risk. When you're managing P&L, your engineering instinct to drill into technical details can work against you. You need to know when a 2% quality improvement justifies the cost and when it doesn't.

Cross-Border Complexity Changes Everything

Managing P&L for a single facility is straightforward compared to overseeing a global business unit. Currency fluctuations affect your costs and revenue in ways that don't show up in your operating budget. A facility that looks profitable in local currency might be losing money when converted back to your reporting currency.

Labor costs vary dramatically by region, but so does productivity, quality, and workforce stability. Simple cost comparisons miss the full picture. Cultural differences shape how teams communicate problems, make decisions, and respond to pressure. Your management approach needs to flex based on context while maintaining consistent accountability.

Building Teams That Execute

P&L performance depends on the people executing your strategy. You can have the right plan and the wrong team, and your numbers will suffer.

Hiring, developing, and retaining talent becomes a financial imperative. Every open position costs you in lost productivity. Every high performer who leaves takes institutional knowledge and customer relationships with them.

Business units that consistently hit their financial targets have low turnover in key roles and strong succession planning. The leaders invest in their people even when budgets are tight.

When Revenue Growth Isn't the Answer

Most executives default to pursuing revenue growth when P&L performance lags. Larger customers, new markets, additional products, all sound like logical paths to improved profitability. Sometimes they are. Often they're not.

Revenue growth in manufacturing frequently brings hidden costs. New customers might require custom tooling, specialized certifications, or extended payment terms that tie up working capital. New markets might need local inventory or regulatory compliance that erodes margins.

Effective P&L management sometimes means walking away from revenue opportunities that don't make financial sense. It means focusing on profitable customer segments even when total revenue growth slows.

What Actually Drives Results

Managing P&L sounds like a numbers job. The numbers are the scoreboard. The actual work happens in conversations with customers, decisions about capital allocation, negotiations with suppliers, and strategic choices about which opportunities to pursue.

Your P&L statement reflects hundreds of decisions made by dozens of people every day. Your job is to create the conditions where those decisions align with your business objectives. That requires clarity about strategy, transparency about performance, and accountability for results.

When your team delivers a profitable quarter because you invested in the right capabilities, made the right operational improvements, and chose the right customers to serve, the work feels worth it.

In industrial manufacturing, what separates companies that grow from those that stagnate usually boils down to how well leaders make decisions when they do not have all the answers. You can be the best engineer in the room, but if you cannot think strategically, your technical skills will only take you so far.

I’ve built my career figuring this out across different countries and industries. As president of the Engineered Plastic Components Business Unit at Tsubaki-Nakashima, I run manufacturing facilities in Europe, the United Kingdom and the United States, handling the full P&L and leading more than 100 people through major transformation.

Starting With the Technical Foundation

You cannot make good decisions about manufacturing strategy if you do not understand how production actually works. I studied mechanical engineering at Iowa State University. But what mattered most was learning to combine that engineering knowledge with business thinking.

Internships at John Deere and seven years at Caterpillar gave me hands-on experience in production engineering, marketing and software support. I was in China when the manufacturing boom was at its peak. Watching operations scale up that fast taught me about balancing growth with quality.

That experience paid off when I led portfolios in consumer electronics at DuPont Electronics. When you understand supply chains and production constraints, you make smarter calls about which opportunities are worth chasing.

Getting Out of the Engineering Silo

A lot of engineers never make it into strategic leadership because they stay too focused on technical details. My path shows why it matters to get experience in different parts of the business.

I earned an MBA at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, concentrating on general management. That gave me the finance and strategy frameworks that engineers typically do not get in technical training.

At DuPont, my role expanded to supporting mergers and acquisitions. Evaluating whether to acquire another company means looking at technical fit, financial projections and cultural dynamics all at once.

Working Across Countries

Making strategic decisions gets harder when you operate in multiple countries with different markets and regulations. My international background helps me handle that complexity.

I earned my master’s in automotive engineering at Tsinghua University in China, doing coursework in Mandarin. I was the only non-Chinese student and defended my thesis in Mandarin too.

Fluency in Mandarin and studying in Australia, Peru, Costa Rica, Taiwan and mainland China exposed me to different approaches to manufacturing problems. That matters when making decisions affecting facilities across three continents.

Balancing Short-Term and Long-Term

One of the toughest parts of leadership is balancing what needs to happen today with what the business will need years from now. You are under pressure to hit current numbers while investing in capabilities that might not pay off for years.

I worked at Redwood Materials, where startup constraints meant making hard choices with limited resources. My current role leading transformation at Tsubaki-Nakashima requires the same discipline. Transformation often hurts short-term profitability even though it builds what you need to compete later.

Learning to Think Strategically

Nobody is born knowing how to think strategically. My move from technical roles to running businesses shows what helps.

Look for chances to work in different parts of the organization. When you understand how the pieces fit together, you catch ripple effects that specialists miss.

Take on assignments outside your comfort zone. Unfamiliar situations force you to adapt and challenge assumptions.

Get formal business training to supplement your technical background. Frameworks for analyzing strategy give you systematic ways to tackle complex decisions.

Go after roles where you own the P&L. When you are accountable for numbers, you get immediate feedback on whether your decisions work.

The Key for This Industry

Manufacturing is getting more complex with globalization, new technologies and changing demands. Leaders who can think strategically will set their companies apart.

My career shows that you build strategic capability by deliberately seeking experiences that broaden your perspective. Being technically strong gives you credibility, but creating real impact means understanding how your decisions affect the whole organization.

If you want to move into manufacturing leadership, start building strategic thinking skills now alongside your technical abilities.

When I stood in a classroom at Tsinghua University as the only non-Chinese student, preparing to defend my Master’s thesis entirely in Mandarin, I grasped something critical about global business: fluency isn’t just about speaking another language. It’s about earning credibility in markets where relationships determine everything.

The decision to pursue a Master’s in Automotive Engineering at what’s often called the “MIT of China” seemed extreme to some colleagues. But that question missed the point entirely.

Most executives approach international expansion through translators and cultural consultants. That approach works until the conversations that matter most, negotiations over tea, factory floor discussions, strategic partnerships requiring genuine trust, happen in moments where interpretation falls short.

The Hidden Costs of Translation

American companies entering Chinese markets typically rely on intermediaries, creating an invisible tax on every interaction. Ideas get filtered, context vanishes and trust builds slower when words pass through a third party.

During my seven years at Caterpillar, I witnessed this friction while working on dual-brand strategies during China’s industrial boom. Meetings stretched unnecessarily long. Strategic insights got muddled. Relationship-building opportunities disappeared.

That experience convinced me to pursue my Master’s at Tsinghua with all coursework delivered in Mandarin. The decision seemed daunting, but the answer became obvious within my first semester.

When Business Fluency Means Market Access

Completing technical coursework in Mandarin forced me to master industry-specific vocabulary English programs never teach. I learned how Chinese engineers discuss tolerance specifications, how supply chain managers frame quality concerns, how executives structure investment proposals. These weren’t just words but keys to understanding decision-making in the world’s largest manufacturing economy.

The transformation extended beyond vocabulary. Without the crutch of English, I built authentic relationships with classmates who now lead major industrial companies across Asia. We debated engineering approaches over dinner, challenged assumptions during study sessions and developed professional trust that translates directly into business opportunities years later.

Today, as president of the Engineered Plastic Components Business Unit at Tsubaki-Nakashima, I lead a global business with manufacturing facilities across Europe, the UK and the U.S. When sourcing challenges arise in Asia or quality specifications need clarification, I can call former classmates and have frank conversations about capacity, pricing and standards, conversations that happen at a different level when executives speak the same technical and cultural language.

The Strategic Advantage Nobody Discusses

Language fluency doesn’t just facilitate communication, it signals commitment. When business leaders invest years learning Mandarin well enough to defend a thesis, Chinese partners recognize they’re playing the long game. I had invested in understanding the culture deeply enough to engage on equal terms.

This matters in industrial manufacturing, where relationships span decades and trust determines who gets priority during supply chain crunches. When shortages hit, factories remember who took time to understand their language and culture.

The same principle applies to leading global teams. Managing over 100 employees across continents requires more than translated memos. It demands understanding how different cultures approach problem-solving and consensus-building. Language fluency provides that foundation.

From Iowa Corn Fields to Global Markets

Growing up in Iowa, spending summers detasseling corn, I never imagined language skills would become a career cornerstone. My father’s farming work taught me about machinery and systems. My mother’s encouragement to study abroad opened my eyes to global opportunities.

Early international exposure, studying in Australia, Peru, Costa Rica, Taiwan and mainland China, planted seeds that grew into a clear competitive advantage. Each language I learned, from Spanish to Mandarin, expanded the markets where I could operate effectively and the relationships I could build authentically.

The pattern held across my career progression. From John Deere internships to Caterpillar’s international operations, from DuPont Electronics portfolio management to current P&L responsibility for a multinational business, language fluency consistently accelerated relationship-building, deepened market understanding and created opportunities monolingual competitors couldn’t access.

The ROI Nobody Calculates

Business schools teach net present value but rarely quantify language investment returns. That calculation should include faster negotiations, deeper supplier relationships, better international talent acquisition and strategic insights from reading local business news in its original language.

The advantages compound over time. Reading Chinese trade publications provides early warning on industry shifts. Understanding regulatory discussions reveals opportunities competitors miss. Building vendor relationships without intermediaries creates trust that withstands market pressures.

For me, completing graduate engineering coursework in Mandarin, arguably one of the most challenging academic undertakings possible, delivered returns that continue compounding. Every conversation with Chinese partners, every factory visit, every strategic decision informed by firsthand market understanding traces back to that investment.

The lesson applies beyond Mandarin. In today’s industrial landscape, global leadership requires more than surface-level cultural awareness. It demands courage to immerse completely, discipline to master technical vocabulary in another language and resilience to persist through challenges.

Language mastery isn’t a nice-to-have skill for executives eyeing international growth. It’s strategic infrastructure that determines who builds lasting partnerships and who remains dependent on intermediaries. The question isn’t whether fluency matters, it’s whether leaders are willing to invest while competitors hesitate.

My experience demonstrates that executives who commit to deep cultural and linguistic fluency gain advantages that extend far beyond translation. We build trust faster, understand markets better and create relationships that withstand the inevitable pressures of global commerce. In manufacturing’s increasingly interconnected world, that advantage isn’t just valuable but essential.

Running manufacturing facilities across different countries looks impressive on paper. In reality, it's a daily exercise in navigating complexity that most leadership books completely skip over.

I lead operations spanning Europe, the UK, and the US, managing teams across multiple time zones while keeping production running smoothly. The experience has taught me that global manufacturing leadership requires a completely different skill set than domestic operations. Here are the realities that caught me off guard.

Your 9-to-5 Doesn't Exist Anymore

When your facilities operate across eight time zones, the concept of work hours becomes meaningless. That production issue in Italy surfaces at 2 AM your time. The UK team needs approval before you've had your morning coffee. Your US facility schedules calls when Europe is already wrapping up.

You learn to structure your day differently. I block early mornings for European coordination, midday for cross-regional strategy, and late afternoon for US operations. You also get comfortable with the fact that true emergencies will wake you up, while everything else waits until morning.

The exhausting part isn't the hours. It's the mental load of context switching between regions, each with different challenges, regulations, and team dynamics. You need systems that don't require you to be the bottleneck, or you'll burn out within months.

Cultural Differences Show Up in Unexpected Ways

Everyone talks about communication styles and business etiquette. That's the easy part. The harder challenges are the unspoken assumptions about how work gets done.

In some European facilities, workers expect detailed consultation before changes. In the US, teams often want direction and autonomy to execute. In Asia, the relationship between technical expertise and hierarchical authority plays out differently than in Western facilities.

These differences affect everything from how you roll out new processes to how you handle performance issues. What feels like direct, helpful feedback in one culture can land as harsh criticism in another. What passes for decisive leadership in one region might seem autocratic somewhere else.

The solution isn't to adopt one approach everywhere. It's to build enough cultural fluency that you can read the room and adjust your leadership style accordingly. That takes time, mistakes, and genuine curiosity about how people in different regions think about work.

Language Barriers Are Real, Even When Everyone Speaks English

Sure, everyone in the meeting speaks English. But they're thinking in their native language, translating in real time, and sometimes missing nuances that native speakers catch immediately.

Technical jargon compounds the problem. An engineering term that's common in one region might need explanation elsewhere. Acronyms vary. Even when words are the same, the emphasis and implications differ.

I spent years studying Mandarin and completed my graduate thesis entirely in that language. That experience taught me something valuable: when you work in a second language, even if you're fluent, there's a cognitive load that native speakers don't experience. You process information slightly slower. You weigh your words more carefully. You sometimes hold back in meetings because you're not 100% confident in how your point will land.

As a global leader, you need to create space for this. Slow down in meetings. Check for understanding. Send written summaries. Give people time to process complex information. The person who seems quiet might be brilliant but needs an extra moment to formulate their thoughts in English.

Compliance Complexity Will Make Your Head Spin

Every region has different regulations for manufacturing, environmental standards, labor laws, and safety requirements. What's acceptable practice in one country might violate regulations in another.

Medical device manufacturing, which is my world, adds another layer of complexity. You're managing ISO certifications, FDA compliance, and various country-specific requirements. An audit in one facility can ripple across your entire global operation if you find a systemic issue.

The regulatory landscape is also constantly changing. In 2024 alone, we saw over 3,000 trade-restricting measures imposed globally. That's triple the number from just five years ago. Staying ahead of these changes requires dedicated resources and a network of local experts who understand regional nuances.

You can't centralize everything. You need local leadership who understand their regulatory environment and can flag issues before they become problems. But you also need enough standardization across facilities to maintain quality and efficiency. Finding that balance is an ongoing challenge.

Supply Chain Resilience Means Different Things in Different Regions

The pandemic exposed how fragile global supply chains really are. But the solutions look different depending on where your facilities are located.

European operations often prioritize relationships with local suppliers and emphasize sustainability in sourcing decisions. US facilities might focus more on cost optimization and just-in-time inventory. Each region has different supplier ecosystems, logistics infrastructure, and vulnerability to geopolitical disruption.

Recent data shows that 63% of manufacturing executives rank sustainable manufacturing among their greatest business opportunities. But implementing sustainable practices globally means navigating different energy infrastructures, regulatory requirements, and cost structures across regions.

The reshoring trend is also playing out differently by region. Many global operations have shifted sourcing from one country to another, and others have invested in more local capacity. There's no one-size-fits-all answer. Each facility needs supply chain strategies tailored to their specific context while aligning with overall corporate goals.

The Path Forward

Managing global manufacturing operations isn't about having all the answers. It's about building systems that work across diverse contexts, developing leaders who understand their local environments, and staying flexible enough to adapt when conditions change.

The complexity can be overwhelming. But there's also something energizing about operating at this scale. You're solving problems that matter, leading talented people across cultures, and building products that serve customers worldwide. The challenges are real, but so is the impact.

If you're considering a move into global operations leadership, or if you're already in it and feeling the strain, know that the learning curve is steep but manageable. Invest in understanding each region deeply. Build strong local leadership. Create communication systems that work across time zones. And recognize that you'll never master it completely. The landscape keeps shifting, and your job is to navigate the complexity with clarity and resilience.

I grew up in a small Iowa farming town, and I learned early that hard work and curiosity go hand in hand. Summers detasseling corn under the Midwestern sun instilled resiliency, while nights full of books and experiments sparked a lifelong passion for problem solving. Those formative years taught me lessons that later took me across continents, from Iowa’s cornfields to classrooms in China, boardrooms in Europe, and leadership roles in global manufacturing.

Today, I serve as President of the Tsubaki Nakashima Engineered Plastic Components Business Unit, with manufacturing responsibility across Europe, the United Kingdom, and the United States. I oversee more than 100 employees with full P&L responsibility, a career built on a global mindset, courage, and determination.

Engineering a Global Perspective

Born of an interest in math, mechanics, and how things work, I pursued a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Iowa State University. I knew right away that engineering would be my ticket to the world. To complement and round out the classroom experience, I studied abroad in Australia, Peru, Costa Rica, Taiwan, and mainland China, where I developed hands-on experience in global problem solving and cultural collaboration.

My curiosity led me to pursue my Master’s at Tsinghua University, generally regarded as the “MIT of China,” in Automotive Engineering. I was thrown deep into an intensive program conducted completely in Mandarin as the sole non-Chinese student in my class and was even required to write and defend my thesis in Mandarin. Through that experience, I learned a great deal about engineering, but perhaps more importantly, about empathy and the ability to adapt to diverse cultural settings.

Lived and studied in five countries on four continents before completing graduate studies.

Proficient in Mandarin, with academic and professional exposure to the industrial sector in China.

I bridge cultures by understanding business dynamics from both the West and the East.

From the Factory Floor to the Executive Suite

I started my career with John Deere through summer internships, which exposed me to manufacturing and operations firsthand. I eventually joined Caterpillar for seven years, moving through various responsibilities in marketing, production engineering, and software support. One pivotal experience was an assignment to China to drive a dual-brand strategy during a period of extraordinary industrial growth. That role kindled a deep interest in how global organizations grow, adapt, and thrive in competition across markets.

I then joined DuPont Electronics, where I managed consumer electronics portfolios, led business development, and supported mergers and acquisitions. Later, at Redwood Materials, I contributed to scaling a startup focused on recycling and sustainability, applying both my engineering expertise and my growing leadership acumen.

At Tsubaki Nakashima, the leadership philosophy guiding my work is inspired by personal values: courage, growth, resilience, excellence, and global mindset. My mission is to lead with curiosity and discipline while building high-performing teams that can deliver on complex challenges across geographies.

Courage and Curiosity as Leadership Cornerstones

For me, small-town roots and global business leadership are inextricably linked. The machinery on my father’s farm fostered my mechanical instincts; it was my mother who gave me a love of the world and the confidence to venture out.

I’ve learned that taking risks and staying curious go hand in hand, something I come back to often when discussing leadership. You don’t grow by staying comfortable. You grow by seeking what’s unfamiliar and turning it into opportunity.

That’s the philosophy that has carried me through moments of uncertainty, from writing a master’s thesis in Mandarin to navigating global supply chains and managing multinational teams. It’s also what I hope to pass on to the next generation of leaders: courage is built through challenge, and curiosity is the compass that keeps growth alive.

The Lesson

As I continue to lead and grow my global business unit, I remain dedicated to bridging cultures, developing talent, and fostering innovation in the industrial manufacturing landscape. My story is a reminder that leadership isn’t about where you start, it’s about how far you’re willing to go, and how curious you remain along the way.

The shift from technical expert to business leader is one of the toughest transitions you'll face in your career. You spent years perfecting your craft, solving complex engineering problems, and building technical credibility. Then one day, you're leading a team, managing P&L, and making strategic decisions that affect hundreds of people.

Why Engineers Struggle With Leadership

Here's the challenge: the skills that made you an exceptional engineer can actually hold you back as a leader. You're trained to find the one right answer. You're used to defending your solution with data and logic. Your reputation depends on being technically correct.

But leadership works differently. Your job isn't to have all the answers anymore. Your job is to ask the right questions, develop your team, and trust the people closest to the problem to solve it.

This mental shift trips up even the most talented engineers. You go from being the expert who solves problems to the leader who coaches others to find solutions. That can feel uncomfortable, especially when you know you could fix the issue faster yourself.

Building the Skills That Matter

When I started my career in manufacturing, I assumed technical excellence would be enough. I earned my mechanical engineering degree, worked in China while completing my master's thesis, and built a solid foundation in production engineering. But when I moved into leadership roles at Fortune 500 manufacturing companies, I quickly learned that technical knowledge was just table stakes.

The real gap? People skills.

Research shows that the top three skills new engineering leaders need to develop are communication, relationship building, and self-awareness. Not delegation. Not decision-making. Not technical depth. The human stuff.

Communication means more than presenting data. You need to listen, really listen, to what your team is telling you. You need to adapt your style to different audiences. You need to have tough conversations about performance and navigate conflict without defaulting to technical arguments.

Relationship building takes time. You can't manage people like you manage machines. Each person on your team has different motivations, strengths, and challenges. The leaders who excel in manufacturing understand that building trust and showing genuine interest in their people creates better results than any process improvement.

Self-awareness might be the hardest skill to develop. You need to understand how you show up, what triggers you, and how your behavior affects others. This means being open to feedback and willing to change patterns that aren't serving you.

Making the Leap

The transition to executive leadership in manufacturing brings another layer of complexity. Now you're thinking about markets, customers, competitive positioning, and long-term strategy. You're managing budgets in the millions. You're leading teams across multiple countries and time zones.

Women face unique challenges in this space. Only 33% of manufacturing leaders are women, and the numbers drop even lower in sectors like automotive and heavy equipment. That means fewer role models, more pressure to prove yourself, and constant navigation of being "the only" in the room.

But here's what I've learned leading global teams across Europe, the UK, and the US: your technical background is actually an asset when paired with strong business acumen. You understand the operations. You speak the language of the production floor. You know what's realistic and what's not.

The key is complementing that technical foundation with strategic thinking. Get your MBA or find other ways to build business skills. Take on cross-functional projects that expose you to sales, finance, and supply chain. Volunteer for international assignments that stretch you beyond your comfort zone.

Most importantly, find mentors who've made the transition successfully. Learn from their mistakes. Ask them the questions you're afraid to ask in front of your team.

The Path Forward

The manufacturing industry needs more leaders who can bridge the technical and strategic worlds. The sector is facing massive transformation with Industry 4.0, automation, and sustainability pressures. Leaders who understand both the technology and the business will drive the next generation of innovation.

If you're an engineer eyeing that next leadership role, start preparing now. Build your people skills deliberately. Seek out opportunities to lead projects, even small ones. Communicate your career goals to your manager. And remember that leadership isn't something you're born with. Like engineering, it's a skill you can develop with practice and dedication.