Gain Leadership Insights at FABTECH ‘24

Metal forming-company leaders manage customer interaction and ensure that production operations run smoothly and on time while meeting quality objectives. They also must focus on long-term goals such as spearheading innovation and sustaining company growth. Oh, and by the way, the buck stops with them when it comes to maintaining profitability.

Of course, they don’t do this alone, or at least I hope not. Instead, they rely on a core team of senior executives and mid-level managers to help guide their planning and decision-making. The companies most successful at navigating what can be rocky terrain, from my perspective, invest healthily in leadership training for their key managers, and most especially their emerging leaders. Such training should spur the team to think collaboratively and strategically.

The International Centre for Industrial Transformation identifies the top three characteristics of a good leadership environment. None of this happens without managerial training.

• Strategic decision-making. “Modern manufacturing increasingly relies on data-driven processes,” the article notes, “where leaders must interpret manufacturing analytics to inform strategic planning and operational decisions. Typical manufacturing analytics use cases such as demand forecasting, inventory management and maintenance optimization.”
• Team empowerment and motivation. “Managers can manage, but leaders do more—they motivate, empower teams and attract future employees.”
• Cultivating an agile and adaptable environment. “Leading organizational change requires overcoming resistance and fostering a culture of flexibility and innovation.”

These topics and more come to the forefront during FABTECH 2024, running October 15-17 in Orlando, FL, and presented in great detail in this issue of MetalForming. A new feature for this year’s event: the Emerging Leaders Program.  

Orlando serves as a great location to discuss leadership training and development, as the city not only is home to Disney World but also to the famed and world-renowned Disney Institute. I really appreciate this snippet from the institute’s website, describing its approach to training and advising business leaders from around the world:

“At Disney Institute, we believe that leadership is not defined by your title, but by your actions. Your values inform how you lead, creating an example for others to follow.”

The FABTECH Emerging Leaders Program follows a similar theme, comprising several activities spread over the event’s three days. Among them: 

• A keynote presentation providing insights on public speaking and networking.
• Guided show-floor tours, curated to highlight emerging technologies and provide hands-on equipment demonstrations.
• Interactive workshop sessions on these and other topics: market positioning to adapt to market disruptions; improving communication skills and effective team leadership; and creating a culture of appreciation to boost employee engagement and retention.

To further investigate the program and register to attend. And, while at FABTECH, please be sure to visit MetalForming magazine and the Precision Metalforming Association. We’ll have staff on hand to answer all of your questions, and also to tell you all about our own emerging-leaders training regimen: Management Development Academy, now in its 12th year and with more than 300 graduates!