Breaking Down Silos – Part 1

Manufacturing leaders know the symptoms of silos: “that’s not my job,” friction between shifts, and departments optimizing their own metrics while overall performance suffers. But how do you actually break down these barriers? Heather Stewart, President and CEO of APG Solutions, shares her executive playbook for creating cross-functional collaboration. In this episode, Stewart explains why curiosity beats protectionism, how to tie individual metrics to a North Star goal, and why lead time reduction should extend beyond operations to include quote turnaround and internal response times. You’ll discover the power of cross-training to build empathy between office and manufacturing teams, the importance of standardizing processes so your organization can run without you, and how to prevent firefighters from becoming arsonists. Whether you’re dealing with first shift vs. second shift friction or struggling to get departments to share information, this conversation delivers actionable strategies manufacturing leaders can implement immediately.