In IndustryWeek's fifth and final installment of Manufacturing Gamechangers, the COVID-19 pandemic sends manufacturing into a tailspin as companies try to figure out how to keep workers safe (and showing up) as the economy plummets, materials shortages proliferate and product demand fluctuates wildly. Manufacturers collaborate and pivot, workers find new strength in old unions and AI finally gains traction. It's an exciting time.
You might notice some recent omissions from our final list, as the impact of recent events is still yet to be determined. Give us five more years, and we'll have plenty of additional gamechanging history to include.
Special thanks to IndustryWeek contributors Jamie Flinchbaugh, Christopher Tang, Carolyn Hendrickson, Warren Browne and Lauren Pittelli and former IndustryWeek editors Pat Panchak and Travis Hessman, who all gave us valuable input on the list.
We’d like to hear from our readers as well. Do you have a gamechanger that’s not on the list—or have your own unique list in mind? Or, maybe you just want to relate a memory associated with one of our Gamechangers. Please share with us below.
#21: COVID-19, Operation Warp Speed Give Manufacturing a Confidence Boost
Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, manufacturing plants scrambled as government restrictions limited or temporarily halted production. In the short term, supply chain disruptions, lower consumer spending and sharply increased unemployment levels also took their toll. Industries such as household goods, electronics and construction materials soon ricocheted back to life, however, with homebound consumers spending to spruce up their surroundings.
Manufacturers also rallied to play a crucial role in public health by collaborating with the government and healthcare organizations to hasten the development, production and distribution of a COVID-19 vaccine. Using additive manufacturing, manufacturers prototyped and in some cases mass-produced personal-protective equipment and ventilators for hospitals. Clothing companies pivoted to make protective gowns and masks for healthcare workers and automotive suppliers made simpler versions of their components for medical applications. The monumental effort showed that the manufacturing community could and should tap into the spirit of collaboration to spark innovation, and not just in a crisis.—Anna Smith
#22: GE Thinks Small(er)
The disassembly of a once-industrial conglomerate reached its conclusion in 2021 when General Electric announced plans to split itself into three independent public companies focused on aerospace, energy and healthcare. It was a significant turnabout for an organization that not too long ago had its fingers in everything from lighting and entertainment to lending, appliances, transportation and more—and for years had annual revenues well north of $140 billion, as well as a legendary CEO in Jack Welch (who died in 2020).
Nevertheless, GE had been pruning its assets for years following acquisitions that didn’t work out and broad restructuring efforts. In a 2021 CNBC interview, then Chairman and CEO Larry Culp (now CEO of GE Aerospace) said customers had been telling him they wanted the company to create leaner, more focused businesses.
The decoupling of GE may have spelled the beginning of the end for U.S. manufacturing conglomerate model. Following in GE’s footsteps, DuPont de Nemours in 2014 announced plans to slim down, and earlier this year, Honeywell unveiled plans to split into three. That the ultimate conglomerate finally succumbed not only spells the end of an era, but shows that even industrial giants are not immune to investors calling for more focused portfolios and the agility to act quickly in a fast-paced economy.—Jill Jusko
#23: Supply Chain Crises Mess Up Globalization Math
The growth of global trade in the ’90s created new problems for manufacturers, especially in recent years. The global trade network that led to consumer spending booms for years has proven fragile in recent years.
Climate events, political unrest, the COVID-19 pandemic and energy and infrastructure problems have created the perfect storm for supply chain disruptions. Smaller shocks, such as the 2011 Fukushima earthquake and nuclear plant meltdown in Japan, roiled supplies for weeks. More recently, the pandemic shuttered factories in China, highlighting the world’s dependence on a single country with a one-party government that pulls the levers of the economy. China threatened to take over Taiwan and its semiconductor industry that supplies the world. Vessel attacks in the Red Sea forced ships from Asia to add weeks to their journey across the ocean. Canals with lowering water levels can be blocked for weeks by mega-container ships, and bridges knocked down. Raw materials producers have been knocked out flat by extreme weather, delaying swaths of industry. Additionally, the rapid expansion of AI has dramatically increased electricity demand and put stress on the power grid.
These global supply chain disruptions necessitate the need for alternate trade routes, suppliers and strategies.
The number of elements coming together to create supply chain volatility has fundamentally changed the way businesses respond to crises, especially as uncertainty has become the “new normal.”—Anna Smith
#24: Unions Score Wins, Find New Fans
In September and October 2021, a flurry of union activity that included strikes at Kellogg, John Deere and Nabisco earned the nickname “Striketober.” In fact, the number of strikes that took place in October 2021 was equal to the number of strikes in all of 2020.
Increased labor action continued with high-profile strikes at Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis (2023); Boeing (2024) and Pratt & Whitney (2025). The United Auto Workers union made gains that eliminated unpopular wage tiers, increased retirement funding and brought higher wages. Boeing machinists eventually signed a contract with a 40% wage increase—15% more than the company’s last pre-strike tentative agreement.
While actual union membership showed a slight decline in 2024, the labor movement has emerged from a period of apathy to build momentum as wealth inequality increases and younger workers follow union activity on social media.
Public sentiment in favor of unions rose to record-high margins in 2025.—Ryan Secard
#25: ChatGPT Helps Manufacturers Understand AI
The manufacturing world is no stranger to AI. Machine learning, a subset of AI, has been applied to vision-based parts sorting and quality applications since the 1990s. AI-based functions have been a part of digital industry software tools for years.
What changed in 2022, however, was the hyper-awareness of AI spurred by the release of large language models (LLM) like the ubiquitous ChatGPT. Now that AI is part of the larger conversation and completely demystified, the more basic but extremely important versions of the technology see larger use. AI algorithms can analyze production schedules to increase efficiency or listen to machines on the shop floor for acoustic cues to generate predictive maintenance work orders before machines go down for repair, just to cite two simple, recurring examples. The hype is just that, but the value of AI is real.
There are downsides to that hyper-awareness. AI has now become the technology du jour for vendors of manufacturing software that tout the AI capabilities of their wares, whether they’re useful or not. Also, people worry en masse about AI taking their jobs.
But for manufacturing, the good news is twofold. The LLMs that put AI on the hype map don’t have much to do with manufacturing work itself, so they won’t be taking jobs on the shop floor. Second, even if the new LLM tools are mostly pointless for manufacturers, the buzz surrounding them increased the awareness of AI outside the realm of engineers and designers.—Dennis Scimeca
