Accelerating Operational Performance

    Your plant has hundreds of improvement opportunities and a small continuous improvement or quality team to work through them. The same problems keep coming back, shift after shift. The people who know the most about those problems are standing right next to the process, but they’re not the ones solving them. Greg sits […]

    In this special dual-podcast episode, Greg Schinkel (our President at Unique Training & Development) sits down with Dr. Pelè Ugboajah of ResultPal to tackle one of L&D’s oldest unsolved problems: how do you actually prove that training drives business results?  

    When tariffs hit and work dried up, Mary Fehr had a spreadsheet answer and a small-town answer. She took the small-town one. Choosing their workers over the spreadsheet. Mary is President of Unifab, a 200-person custom metal fabricator in Leamington, Ontario, founded by her father, Abe, 35 years ago. Before she joined in […]

Seanna Pickard, HR Director at the Federal Bridge Corporation, breaks down the 3-word mantra she uses to make every decision: fair, equitable, transparent.

    Structure will get a team to its KPIs, but it doesn’t always get them past them. In this episode of Accelerating Operational Performance, host Greg Schinkel talks with Umesh Vendargon, COO of Core Linen Services, about the gap between management and leadership. Umesh traces his own path from the operations floor through a […]

On this bonus episode, we're sharing a conversation from the Chemical Engineering podcast. Senior editor Scott Jenkins speaks with Greg Schinkel, CEO here at Unique Training & Development and host of the Accelerating Operational Performance podcast. The conversation focuses on career paths open to engineers and offers thoughts on what engineers and companies can do to develop leadership skills for...

    What does it actually take to build confidence as a leader? Communication expert and keynote speaker Mimi Brown joins Greg Schinkel to break down her “Own Your Swag” framework and her new book, Lead at Full Volume: The 10 Beats to Amplify Your Confidence, Influence and Presence. Mimi shares the moment a boss […]

    Most plant managers pick up one or two of these five patterns in their first year — not because they’re bad leaders, but because nobody warned them. In this special edition of Accelerating Operational Performance, Greg walks through five common mistakes first-year plant managers make, from thinking day-to-day instead of long-term to confusing […]

    After 49 interviews with senior leaders, operators, engineers, and executives — including a former London, Ontario mayor — Greg pulls back the curtain on the three themes that keep surfacing no matter who’s in the chair. What do success and struggle actually have in common across industries, roles, and experience levels? Spoiler: it’s […]

    If you’re an operations leader with any responsibility for growth, sales isn’t someone else’s problem — it’s yours. In this episode of Accelerating Operational Performance, Greg Schinkel sits down in-studio with sales strategist, speaker, and author Shawn Casemore to tackle the sales challenges that manufacturing and operations leaders face every day — whether...

    Most business owners have heard of a fractional CFO. Far fewer have heard of a fractional COO, and that might be exactly the role their business needs. In this episode of the Accelerating Operational Performance podcast, Greg Schinkel sits down with Josh Post, a fractional COO and executive coach who spent more than […]

    Kevin Schinkel, President of Schinkel’s Legacy, joins Greg on the Accelerating Operational Performance podcast to share what 14 years on the plant floor taught him about leadership. From the Easter ham disaster that humbled him, to overcoming imposter syndrome, to the simple question that transformed how he delegates—Kevin opens up about the real […]

    Nadia Dawe, a people, learning, culture, and operations leader with deep experience in transportation, transit, maintenance, safety, compliance, and frontline leadership, shares what she learned as she moved from L&D into Operations and why the work ultimately comes back to people. Together, Greg and Nadia explore how leaders can get closer to the work, […]

    How do you transition from a “top-down” manager to a strategic leader who drives operational excellence? Greg sits down with industry veteran Darcy Scott to unpack over 30 years of experience in high-velocity logistics and 3PL. Darcy shares his personal journey of leadership evolution. This conversation provides a roadmap for empowering teams, leading […]

Greg sits down with Jeff Gallant, an operations leader with over 30 years of experience driving transformation across some of Canada’s most recognized industrial organizations. Jeff has led billion-dollar investments, large teams, and major operational change—but what stands out most is his perspective on leadership. This conversation gets into what actually drives results on the floor: - The shif...

Discover how to turn frontline leadership training into lasting behavior change. Greg Schinkel and Kandis Neth share secrets to making operational learning stick.

    In this episode, Rick Richkowski, VP of Operations at Arrow TruLine, shares leadership insights. He discusses scaling operational excellence through a situational problem-solving approach, the impact of automation on high-volume manufacturing, and the importance of leadership stability in driving long-term sustainability.  

    In this episode of the Accelerating Operational Performance Podcast, Greg sits down with entrepreneur Rob Szabo, owner of Palasad and Escapology, to talk about his journey of leadership growth. Rob shares how he evolved from a hands-on operator in the hospitality industry to a strategic leader running multiple locations with a strong management […]

    Greg is joined by Ted Bezner, instructor with Unique Training & Development and an expert in cross-cultural communication and frontline leadership development. Ted shares his journey into training, his experience teaching leadership programs across North America, Latin America, Europe, and Asia, and what it really takes to engage adult learners—especially frontline leaders who [&...

Greg Schinkel and Dr. Steve Cohen share how to build a leadership training strategy that drives real behavior change.

In this special edition of the Accelerating Operational Performance Podcast, Greg Schinkel shares critical insights gained from his recent manufacturing site visits in 2025. As we enter the new year, Greg discusses the common traps that keep plant operations from reaching their full potential and provides a roadmap for leaders to go from good to great.

On this Accelerating Operational Performance Rewind, Greg Schinkel and Kirk Langford look back at some of the most impactful conversations from the podcast—episodes that resonated most with plant managers, operational leaders, and manufacturing executives. This episode isn’t about theory. It’s about what actually works on the shop floor and in leadership roles where pressure is real, and results m...

    Learn operational leadership lessons from Graphic Packaging EVP Michael Farrell. In this AOP podcast episode, Greg and Michael discuss accountability, breaking silos, and leading with authenticity to drive efficiency and productivity in any manufacturing or operational environment.  

Are you spending thousands on training—forklift certifications, safety modules, and leadership seminars—only to see your "Professional Development" scores tank on the annual employee survey? You aren't alone. There is a massive disconnect between what HR calls "investment" and what employees call "mandatory compliance." In this Special Edition of the Accelerating Operational Performance podcast, G...

The manufacturing workplace is full of pressure, but the real enemy isn't the busy schedule—it’s burnout and the invisible drain of workplace toxicity. In this episode, Greg sits down with certified speaking professional and resilience expert Beverly Beuermann-King to deliver a practical blueprint for leaders and professionals struggling to stay engaged and healthy.