The Secret to Attracting Top Talent

The Talent Problem Numbers do not lie. Over the next decade, nearly 3.5 million manufacturing jobs will be posted. Two million of these jobs are expected to go unfilled due to a skills gap according to the Manufacturing Institute and Deloitte Consulting. Similar scary numbers can be found across many other industries as well. No matter where…

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Design Leaders Consortium

Learning Through Community This past March, The Michigan Chapter of Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA-MI) hosted a design consortium with leaders from Ford Motor Company, Whirlpool, Sunberg-Ferar, Kaleidoscope, Newell Brands, Eureka! Ranch, Shinola, and DISHER. The event was held in the College for Creative Studies – Taubman Center and sponsored by Design Core Detroit,…

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Research Can Redefine Innovation

How do organizations effectively innovate to stay ahead of the competition? One significant way is through research, yet surprisingly companies often run ahead and skip this foundational step. Research has the ability to confidently move companies forward into new inventions, industries, and initiatives by translating raw data into strategic decisions. As a researcher at DISHER,…

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Automation Is Not the End Goal— but Increased Productivity

I am passionate about manufacturing and helping my customers thrive. One pressing concern they all share is how to boost productivity with fewer workers. To stay competitive, they understand that improvements must be made to grow the bottom line. Manufacturing leaders are looking for fresh ideas and new perspectives, but often lack the time and…

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We Can Do It – Bridging the Manufacturing-Labor Gap

On March 7, I had the pleasure of presenting at PivotPoint, a thought-leadership event designed for the manufacturing and industrial community in southwest Michigan. My topic centered around the biggest challenge facing many manufactures today: how to fill skilled-labor jobs. One solution that delivers proven results is to harness the potential of experience workers using…

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Hiring for Year One (Part 2)

In part one of this series we described the need to shift the recruiting mindset from a hit-the-ground-running approach to a hiring-for-year-one strategy in order to better meet the challenges of today’s competitive hiring environment. In this entry, we will discuss how proactive recruiting and performance planning expands your talent pool and results in greater…

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4 Keys to Accelerate Your Speed to Market

  “Only the paranoid survive,” he spoke softly while everyone listened intently. Jerry was known in the company for pulling off miracle product launches and releasing game-changing products. While nervous laughter made its way around the room, Jerry’s face remained serious. He used the quote, originally said by Andy Grove of Intel, as a starting…

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Discovering Your Design Community

  “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent.” – John Donne Imagine you are a designer who was marooned on a desert island for the last ten years. You are finally rescued this year and brought back to society. Because of the decade-long disconnect, you return to the…

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The Fundamentals of Feedback

A Skill Worth Developing Giving and receiving feedback is a skill that pays big dividends for personal development. And like any skill it can be developed. At DISHER, when I am working on complex project teams with multiple parties, being able to communicate feedback often and effectively helps build trust among the team and enables…

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