Supply Chain Hurtles Toward Collapse; Why Manufacturers Like Their Career: IndustryWeek's Weekly Review
Technology takes the lead in this issue of IndustryWeek's Weekly Review, while supply chain topics also grab lots of attention. Without further ado, the Top 10 most-consumed content on IndustryWeek.com over the past seven days, plus two Editor's Choice selections, are:
We’re Data Experts at Ford. Here’s How We See AI Agents Reshaping the Shop Floor: A look at the tangible impacts of agentic AI based on recent implementations and industry analysis.
Cobots Handle Furniture-Making Drudgery, People Focus on Company Growth: Furniture manufacturer Foliot scales a cobot deployment to multiple plants for higher throughput, better operator retention and fewer accidents.
The Iran Supply Chain Crisis Is Hurtling Toward Collapse: We are witnessing a transition from a manageable energy spike to a patient-critical and system-critical structural failure.
Why Dr. Deming Promotes ‘Vigorous' Education and Self-improvement as Management Musts: Podcast: Hosts Mohamed Saleh and John Dyer explore Dr. Deming’s 13th point for management, delving into the importance of education and how modern technologies like AI impact learning organizations.
Why Dr. Deming Opposed Management by Objectives and Quotas: Podcast: Hosts John Dyer and Mohamed Saleh explore what they call Dr. Deming's most controversial point for management transformation.
Supply Chain Leadership Has Become Essential to the CIO Role: The convergence of IT and operations, at a time when manufacturers are dealing with economic uncertainty and demands to make profitable use of advanced AI systems makes this a critical hire.
Alcoa Seeing Order Uptick From Iran War Worries: CFO Mollie Beerman told a JPMorgan conference profits should climb later this year. Overall industrial demand, she and 3M’s CEO said, has remained strong so far in 2026.
The Robotics Supply Chain Already Has Winners and Losers: You cannot scale what you cannot source.
The Big Productivity Gains Will Come from Cross-Functional AI: The interaction of generative AI, agentic AI and machine learning across different areas of an organization holds the greatest promise for optimizing talent.
Survey: Manufacturing Workers Report High Career Satisfaction, Industry Optimism: Among shop floor workers who recommend a career in the industry, 36% say they do so specifically because of the opportunity to work with AI, automation and other advanced technologies, according to a new report.
Editor’s Choice:
Call for Speakers: IndustryWeek Operations Leadership Summit: Live event to be held in October in South Carolina will focus on operational excellence, industrial safety and manufacturing technology adoption.
Enter the 2026 IndustryWeek Best Plants Awards Competition: We have launched our annual search for the best manufacturing plants in North America. If your facility is an example of operational excellence, apply today! April 3 is the deadline to receive completed entries.