Erasing the MEPs and Is a Chip Armageddon Looming? IndustryWeek's Weekly Review
The uncertainty around the future of the Manufacturing Extension Partnership program overwhelmingly grabbed our IndustryWeek manufacturing community's attention in this issue of IW's Weekly Review. Still, other topics of interest include agentic AI, a potential chip shortage, respect for people and more. The Top 10 most consumed content over the past seven days are:
Trump's New Budget Eliminates MEPs; Eight States Without Contracts: Latest claim from Trump: DEI has ruined the program.
Update: 8 States Return to Manufacturing Partnership Map: The manufacturing hotbeds of Minnesota, Illinois and Wisconsin were among those erased.
Understanding Agentic AI: Innovation Exec and Ford Scientists Share Tips: Ron Norris, former Director of Innovation at Georgia-Pacific, Sanjay Ahire, data scientist at Ford Motor Company and Nagadithya Nookala, technical product manager also from Ford discuss real-world AI applications for manufacturers.
Another Chip Shortage Is on the Horizon: With huge demand for high-bandwith memory, some semiconductor experts are predicting "RAMageddon."
The Respect-Driven Motivation Model: Charting a path from Respect for People to improved company performance.
The Progress Paradox: Why Do We Feel Stuck When Everything Is Green? Dive into the topic of suboptimization, or the “illusion of excellence,” which occurs when individual departments focus on improving their own metrics at the expense of the overall enterprise. Learn tactics to drive enterprise-wide performance.
IndustryWeek Operations Leadership Summit Scheduled for October in South Carolina: Three-day live event will focus on operational excellence, continuous improvement, manufacturing technology and industrial safety.
Robot Report Reveals US in Top 10 While China Gets an Asterisk: So That Happened: IndustryWeek editors look into those stories as well as AI deployments, a worker strike at an ammo manufacturing plant, another company eyeing the data center space and a celebration of welding.
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.
How to Make Your Next Plant Visit Count: When a manufacturing facility is in "show mode," you don't get the truth.
Editor's Choice
Call for Speakers: IndustryWeek Operations Leadership Summit: The deadline to submit proposals for this October event is April 15.