Building Operational Resilience: Skills, Systems, and Strategies for Modern Manufacturing

Modern manufacturing demands more than just technical skill. It demands adaptability. In this issue, we explore three critical areas where plants and professionals either build resilience or expose themselves to growing risks:

• Why baseline networking skills are now essential for control system teams

• How simple root cause tools, when applied properly, become a factory’s hidden superpower

• Why MTTF metrics lose their meaning without real root cause visibility

• Plus, a practical look at how "managing up" can accelerate your career inside manufacturing organizations

The Core Insight: Modern Manufacturing Teams Need Networking Literacy to Stay Operational

For a long time, manufacturing control systems operated in isolation. Proprietary protocols like ControlNet, DeviceNet, and Profibus moved data between field devices and PLCs without ever touching corporate networks.

That world has been changing.

Today, plants expect their OT systems to connect to SCADA, MES, ERP, cloud analytics, and remote monitoring. The line between IT and OT is fading, and the gap in networking skills is a growing risk.

Across dozens of facilities, I have seen basic networking issues cause real damage:

• A line shuts down because of an IP conflict no one knows how to fix.

• A critical project stalls because no one understands VLANs or managed switches.

• The plant team is relying on outsourced IT with no knowledge of OT and poor visibility of the actual system / process.

• Cybersecurity gaps linger because teams were never trained in network segmentation.

Control system engineers and technicians must now have baseline networking skills. It is not about turning every technician into a CCNA, but they must be comfortable with core concepts like IP addressing, subnets, managed switch setup, basic diagnostics (ping, tracert), and simple security practices like password management and segmentation.

If you are hiring or upskilling your team, here is what to look for:

• Familiarity with industrial Ethernet and basic IP networking

• Ability to configure and troubleshoot Layer 2 switches (Rockwell Stratix, Siemens SCALANCE, etc.)

• Understanding of VLANs, subnetting, and device addressing

• Basic diagnostic tool usage (ping, trace route, Wireshark introduction)

• Foundations in cybersecurity (recognizing default passwords, segmentation basics)

For engineers and technicians looking to build these skills, studying for the CCNA certification is a strong starting point, even if they do not complete it fully. Even a CCNA-level understanding of Layer 2 fundamentals, routing basics, and troubleshooting will make a major difference on the plant floor.

Facilities that build networking into their OT teams are not just protecting themselves from downtime.

They are preparing for a connected future where operations depend on it.

The Plant Floor: Simple Root Cause Tools Are a Factory’s Hidden Superpower

In a recent conversation about root cause analysis, it became obvious that the leadership team underestimated the value of simple frameworks. Because they had never seen tools like 5 Whys, 6W2H, or the Fishbone Diagram applied properly, they assumed these methods were too basic to deliver real operational benefits.

The reality could not be further from the truth.

At an IWS4-certified Procter & Gamble site, I saw firsthand how powerful these tools can be when applied consistently. The benefit was not just solving the immediate problem faster. It was creating a culture of structured thinking, escalation, and permanent fixes instead of temporary patches.

Since then, when assessing a manufacturing site, one of the first things I look for is how deeply Lean Six Sigma tools, especially root cause analysis, are embedded into daily operations. It is a leading indicator of operational discipline.

In manufacturing, downtime is expensive. Saving just 10 minutes through faster and more accurate troubleshooting can result in tens of thousands of dollars saved. On high-throughput or continuous production lines, that number can climb into hundreds of thousands over a year.

The 5 Whys method is easy to explain: ask "why" multiple times until the underlying cause is revealed. But like "going to the gym to lose weight," the simplicity of the idea does not guarantee success. It requires discipline, repetition, and coaching.

Here is the foundation I recommend:

• Training: Teach teams why structured RCA matters. Faster troubleshooting means fewer recurring problems and higher line performance.

• Mentorship: Allow teams to practice, fail, and improve through guided sessions without creating a culture of blame.

• Iteration: Build repetition into daily problem-solving routines. Improvement only comes from ongoing real-world application.

It is critical to frame root cause analysis as a tool to make troubleshooting easier and more efficient, not as extra paperwork. When teams experience the real benefits themselves, the adoption becomes self-reinforcing.

Just to be clear - The 5 Whys, or any other root cause analysis tool, isn’t the “magic pill.” It’s something that takes a lot of time to implement, help teams leverage, and to get an ROI from. There are no shortcuts - some teams will adopt it faster than others and some will give up before they see any benefits. The leadership teams are key in ensuring that the process is followed, produces consistent improvements, and that the teams don’t get discouraged as they will inevitably fail.

Metrics That Matter: MTTF Means Nothing Without Understanding the "Why"

MTTF, or Mean Time to Failure, is often mentioned when evaluating machine, process, or line performance in manufacturing. On the surface, it seems straightforward: the higher the MTTF, the better your reliability must be. However, without context, MTTF on its own is almost useless. If I told you that a dairy facility’s production line had an MTTF of 30 minutes, it would be impossible to say whether that is good, bad, or acceptable. Even more importantly, that number alone would not help you make any meaningful improvements.

Understanding MTTF in isolation leads to the illusion of control. What matters far more is understanding the failures that are driving that number down. In many facilities I have visited, when I start probing for more detail, the same pattern appears. Plants may be logging stops, but the data is too shallow. When I ask about the top five causes of downtime, the answers are usually symptoms, not causes:

• Operator pressed stop button

• Safety door opened

• HMI stop button pressed

• Safety gate tripped

These are simply the final events recorded, not the underlying reasons why the stop happened. Without better failure categorization, the team cannot drive meaningful action. They are stuck reacting to what the system logs, not diagnosing what actually needs to change.

Knowing your MTTF is useful, but knowing why you are failing is critical. Many facilities already have the building blocks to improve, they are collecting some form of downtime or stop data. The problem is that when you start digging for real causes, the information becomes murky and difficult to use. The truth is often buried under incomplete labels, unclear maintenance records, or habits of quickly clearing faults without investigation.

If you want to use MTTF as a true operational lever, I recommend starting with a simple diagnostic:

• Can your team provide a current MTTF value for critical assets or lines?

• Can they identify the top five real reasons contributing to that MTTF, beyond just symptoms?

• Is there a structured action plan in place to reduce failures and extend MTTF?

• Are there known gaps in how downtime and failure data are collected today?

If the answer to any of these questions is "no" or "we are not sure," you have found a clear starting point for improvement. The point is not to assign blame, but to recognize that better visibility leads directly to better outcomes.

Facilities that treat MTTF as a living metric, connected to real root cause analysis and continuous action, unlock major gains in uptime, efficiency, and cost savings. They do not just react faster when failures happen. They prevent failures from happening in the first place.

MTTF Without Root Cause Context Is Just a Number

High-performing plants view MTTF not as a performance report, but as a real-time diagnostic. The number only becomes valuable when it is backed by disciplined investigation, real accountability, and an ongoing commitment to eliminate root causes.

Career Shift: Managing Up Is Not Politics. It Is Professional Leadership.

Regardless of your current position, one of the best pieces of career advice I ever received was to develop the ability to "manage up." Managing up is the ability to positively influence the decisions and actions of those above you in the organization.
It is not manipulation. It is not political gamesmanship.
It is the disciplined, strategic practice of making yourself valuable, making your work visible, and making it easier for your leaders to help you succeed.

Many of us who come from traditional technical or academic backgrounds were taught to think in a purely top-down way: leadership sets direction, and we execute. But in reality, the people who grow fastest inside manufacturing organizations understand something deeper. Leadership is busy. Leadership has competing priorities. Leadership often does not see the day-to-day friction points or opportunities unless someone brings them forward clearly and constructively.

Managing up is not about telling your boss what to do. It is about framing information, actions, and opportunities in a way that makes it easier for them to make good decisions. And by doing so, you shape not just the outcome of your projects, but the trajectory of your own career.

Here are a few habits that build strong "managing up" skills:

• Anticipate needs: Do not wait to be told what is needed next. Always be thinking one or two steps ahead and prepare accordingly.

• Frame problems with solutions: When you raise an issue, bring at least one proposed path forward. Leaders value those who lower the decision-making burden.

• Clarify priorities: When you feel pulled in different directions, ask: "Between these projects, which is the highest priority for you right now?" Help leadership focus.

• Make progress visible: Regularly update your boss on wins, challenges, and next steps. If you do not tell your story, no one else will.

• Align with their goals: Understand what pressures or targets your leadership is facing, and find ways your work can help them succeed.

The deeper you move in your career, the clearer this becomes:
Being excellent at your craft is necessary, but not sufficient. Your ability to manage relationships upward, to make leadership’s life easier while delivering results, becomes a multiplier on every opportunity you are given.

From the Field

This is not meant to be a rant, but last week I sat through three meetings with a group whose directors and VPs were largely unfamiliar with OT architectures and were unreceptive to guidance on how SCADA and MES solutions should be deployed.

I believe that anyone, regardless of background, can develop the skills necessary to work with these systems. However, it takes time to fully understand the landscape. Titles alone are a recipe for disaster when it comes to navigating the intricacies, needs, and challenges within manufacturing, and delivering a real ROI across a complex organization.

My advice to executives involved in hiring directors and VPs is simple: proceed with caution. IT and OT environments are structured very differently. If you hire an excellent IT expert, give them time and support to learn the realities of OT. If you hire a seasoned OT leader, understand that while they may have deep operational knowledge, they may also have gaps in areas critical to broader business execution.

Successful leadership in manufacturing today depends on recognizing these gaps and building the right support around them.