Agile Manufacturing
In this week's episode, Ken Forster and Michael Dolbec speak with Jane Arnold, former VP of Manufacturing and Operations Technology at Stanley Black and Decker. Jane is a thought leader and industry 4.0 expert in manufacturing technology, with over 30 years of experience in manufacturing technology, control engineering, and operations.
Jane has held executive leadership roles at Stanley Black and Decker and Covestro, where she led the transformation of manufacturing globally by bringing together diverse functions and expertise to sustainably solve problems utilizing advancements in technology. Her focus is to improve Digitalization in Manufacturing with an emphasis on emerging technologies and a passion for engaging a bottoms-up approach that augments the workforce with technology. She graduated from Oxford University’s Business Economics Program and has a degree in Mathematics from the University of Houston.
Discussion Points:
- What would you consider your "Digital Thread"?
- You have a deep experience base in process control, having led Covestro's manufacturing digital transformation. Covestro is a €7B market cap. Chemical manufacturer headquartered in Germany. What were the top three insights you gleaned from this time relative to Industry 4.0?
- You joined Stanley Black and Decker in early 2021 as VP of Manufacturing and Operations Technology. This was a significant step as Stanley is a well-known discrete manufacturing company. What attracted you to the company and space, and what was your remit there?
- In our conversations before this podcast, you listed three key topics you wanted to cover: "OEE, data quality, and change management" - three diverse topics that all speak to "Agile Manufacturing." Can you draw a conceptual line between each?
- Can you talk about some of your wins across Covestro and SBDC?
- How do you know when an organization is ready to adopt agile manufacturing technologies, and what best practices have you seen in realizing that potential value?
- What does "Industry 4.0" mean to you? What is your perspective on the EU's "Industry 5.0" work?
- Where do you see the greatest opportunities for Industry 4.0/5.0 in the next five years?
- You've described yourself as "a champion of women and diversity, particularly in STEM roles." Can you say more about your work here?
- Knowing that you've just recently left Stanley Black & Decker. What's next for you?
- And in closing, where do you find your inspiration?
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