NEPIRC

06/19/2026

Still smiling after our recent Executive Network Educational Session with the incredible Jeannine Luby!

We spent time laughing and learning how laughter isn’t just fun, it’s a powerful leadership tool. From building a strong, positive culture to increasing psychological safety, fostering resilience, and supporting overall wellness, laughter helps us show up as more effective, connected leaders. It’s amazing how something so simple can have such a meaningful impact on how we lead and engage with our teams.

Grateful for the energy, insights, and real connections that came out of this session—it was a great reminder that leadership doesn’t always have to be serious to be impactful.

If you’re looking to grow, connect, and bring fresh perspective into your leadership journey, consider joining our Executive Network. From sessions like this to virtual executive insight webinars, plant tours, and meaningful connections with peers across the industry, it’s designed to help you elevate your game.

Let’s keep learning—and laughing—together.

06/17/2026

One of the most impactful elements of continuous Improvement (CI) is also one of the most misunderstood. Companies will spend years working on improving their processes, focusing on throughput and capacity, but let their equipment fall apart. They prefer to do “Breakdown Maintenance” because they can’t afford to shut the process down. When the process starts to erode, they focus more on techniques and disregard equipment reliability. When you approach them about implementing TPM, they say they don’t have the time, the talent, or the knowledge to make it work. Companies are intimidated because they hear a few buzzwords about it and become overwhelmed without trying to understand. But all this time spent ignoring the equipment forces you to flush money down the drain from quality and throughput issues leading to overtime and missed shipments. How many times in your company do you hear someone say “The machine is running pretty good, but every time we have to count on it to hit our shipment date, something happens.”?

The fact is, TPM is actually easy. Most companies have a good history of repairs with knowledgeable operators. The 8 Pillars of TPM starts with the operator doing autonomous maintenance. In simple terms, they do daily, weekly, and monthly checklists to ensure that the machine is going to perform for them and be successful. When you combine that with preventative maintenance tasks that are scheduled based on the calendar, you have a solid foundation for a TPM initiative. This will then easily evolve into condition-based maintenance tasks and then reliability-based maintenance.

It's difficult to prove the value of a breakdown that didn't happen, but there are clear indicators when TPM takes root:

· well-maintained machines produce more consistent, higher-quality output
· fewer machine-caused defects cuts material waste
· clean, well-functioning workplaces reduce frustration and accidents
· fewer leaks, spills, and energy inefficiencies
· stable machines mean stable product quality
· less downtime means more predictable production schedules

TPM transforms maintenance from a reactive cost center into a proactive competitive advantage. TPM is not usually a technical challenge; it's a human one. The companies that succeed treat TPM less as a maintenance program and more as a cultural transformation, with visible leadership commitment and patience for the long game.

So, when are you going to start?

06/15/2026

Supervisors, are you prepared to handle situations involving potential workplace impairment? Our next virtual training, "Reasonable Suspicion: Keeping Pace with Change," is coming up on Thursday, August 6 from 8:30–10:30 AM EDT
This 2-hour session equips leaders with practical skills to recognize signs of impairment and respond appropriately—helping maintain a safe, compliant, and productive work environment in manufacturing and beyond.

Whether you're navigating evolving regulations, new substances in the workplace, or just want to sharpen your observation and response strategies, this training delivers actionable insights you can put to use right away.

Register today through Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/reasonable-suspicion-keeping-pace-with-change-tickets-1989109366661

Spots are limited, so don't wait. Who on your team could benefit from this? Share this with your network and let's keep building stronger, safer teams across northeastern PA.

06/12/2026

Excited to share that registration is open for NEPIRC’s 8-Week Leadership Development Essentials virtual program!

Starting Tuesday, July 14 and running through September 1, this series delivers practical leadership training through interactive sessions focused on communication, conflict resolution, motivation, teamwork, and more. It’s a proven program that helps supervisors and managers become more effective in today’s manufacturing environment.

Perfect for anyone looking to level up their skills while supporting strong teams right here in NEPA.

Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/8-week-leadership-development-essentials-virtual-registration-1983086889269
If you know a leader in manufacturing who should be in this cohort, feel free to tag them or pass it along!

06/11/2026

Congratulations to our Leadership Development Essentials (LDE) graduates!

We’re proud to celebrate the dedicated professionals who completed NEPIRC’s 8-week Leadership Development Essentials program at the TekRidge center in Jessup. Over the course of eight interactive sessions, these leaders invested their time and energy to sharpen their skills in communication, team management, problem-solving, and driving results in manufacturing environments.

Your commitment to growth not only strengthens your own careers but also builds a stronger, more capable workforce right here in Northeastern Pennsylvania. That’s the kind of leadership that keeps our region’s manufacturers competitive and thriving.

A huge thank you to everyone who participated and to our instructors for guiding the group through practical, real-world applications. We can’t wait to see the positive impact you’ll make on your teams and organizations.

If you’re a manufacturing professional looking to level up your leadership skills, keep an eye out for our next LDE session—we’d love to have you join us.

What’s one leadership lesson you’re taking away from the program? Share in the comments below!

06/10/2026

A common leadership mistake is treating feedback as something reserved for annual reviews or difficult conversations. In reality, the most effective leaders make feedback a normal, ongoing part of how they communicate. This recent article from Harvard Business Review highlights several practical ways managers can deliver feedback that is more useful, specific, and easier for employees to act on.

One of the strongest reminders is that feedback works best when it is timely, focused on observable behaviors, and tied to future improvement—not personal criticism. Employees are far more likely to engage when leaders create a culture where feedback feels developmental rather than punitive. That requires consistency, trust, and the ability to balance accountability with support.

For manufacturers and organizational leaders, strong feedback skills directly impact performance, engagement, safety, teamwork, and continuous improvement efforts. The best supervisors don’t avoid difficult conversations—they learn how to have them in a way that helps people grow while still driving results.

https://hbr.org/2026/05/our-favorite-management-tips-on-giving-feedback?ab=HP-hero-latest-3

Our Management Tip of the Day continues to be one of HBR’s most popular newsletters. In this article, we’ve compiled eight of our favorite tips on giving feedback, from how to use feedback to give employees a sense of purpose to how to choose the right coaching style for each of your employees.

06/08/2026

The kickoff for our Women of Manufacturing Empowerment Network (W.O.M.E.N.) is right around the corner on July 1st!

This year-long leadership development program is designed specifically for early- to mid-career women in manufacturing. Through networking, mentorship, and targeted sessions, participants build confidence, sharpen leadership skills, and create meaningful professional connections that help them advance in our industry.

Meetings will take place on the first Wednesday of each month from 8:00 AM to 11:00 AM at our facility in Hanover Township. The curriculum covers everything from growth mindset and navigating challenges unique to women in manufacturing to personal branding, negotiation skills, and more.

If you're a motivated woman in manufacturing looking to grow your career and strengthen our local community, we encourage you to apply today. Spots are limited.
Learn more and submit your application here: https://nepirc.com/wnetwork

Who's ready to join us? We'd love to hear from you in the comments.

06/05/2026

Congratulations to the Pulverman team on completing NEPIRC’s Leadership Development Essentials training!

We're proud to have partnered with Pulverman, a leading metal fabrication company right here in Dallas, PA, to deliver this program. Their team invested time and effort over the eight weeks to strengthen their leadership skills, better manage teams, and drive continuous improvement in their operations.

Programs like this are exactly why we do what we do at NEPIRC—helping Northeast PA manufacturers build stronger leaders who can keep our regional manufacturing sector competitive and thriving.

A big thank you to everyone at Pulverman who participated and to Leo Gilroy for leading the sessions. Well done!

What leadership challenges are you focusing on at your organization? Drop a comment below—we’d love to hear from fellow manufacturers in the region.
Learn more about our upcoming leadership trainings at www.nepirc.com.

05/29/2026

Our Tour de Standard Work™ is happening next week on June 2 and 3 right here at NEPIRC — and this is your last chance to register!

We're bringing Lean principles to life in a truly unique way: participants will work in teams to fully assemble 30 children's bicycles (15 blue boys' models and 15 red girls' 20-inch models from Kent Bikes). These bikes will then be donated to kids in our community through our partners at Community Bike Works, supporting Jericho Community Center, Friends of the Poor, Catherine McAuley Center, and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northeastern Pennsylvania. What a perfect way to wrap things up on June 3 — World Bicycle Day.

This isn't your typical classroom training. You'll practice Standardized Work, TWI Job Instruction, takt time, line balancing, visual management, 6S, root cause problem solving, and Kaizen through real improvement cycles on a live production line. Whether you're experienced with continuous improvement or just starting your Lean journey, you'll walk away with practical skills you can apply immediately in your operations.

Spots are very limited, so if you've been thinking about joining us, now is the time. Register today: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/nepirc-tour-de-standard-worktm-2-day-lean-training-experience-tickets-1987327291426

Who in your network would benefit from this? Tag them below or share this post — we'd love to have more manufacturers from northeastern PA with us. Let's build bikes and build stronger operations together!

05/27/2026

Interesting research from Wharton Knowledge at Penn on how AI influences decision-making. The article highlights an important distinction between AI that simply “nudges” us to pay attention versus AI that tells us exactly what to do. While direct recommendations can improve short-term decisions, the research found they may also reduce critical thinking and independent judgment over time.

The study used chess players as a testing ground and discovered that players performed well when AI provided the exact move — but struggled more afterward when they had to think independently again. In contrast, AI prompts that encouraged deeper attention without giving the answer helped people stay mentally engaged and improved longer-term performance.

For manufacturers and business leaders, this raises an important leadership and workforce development question: Are we using AI to replace thinking, or to strengthen it? In environments where speed and risk mitigation matter, direct AI recommendations can be valuable. But in areas requiring problem-solving, judgment, and continuous learning, leaders may want AI systems that support human thinking rather than bypass it. The challenge going forward may not simply be adopting AI — it may be designing workplaces where people continue to think critically alongside it.

Source: https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/should-ai-nudge-you-or-tell-you-what-to-do/

New research from Wharton and INSEAD shows that even accurate AI advice can have surprising costs.