Factory Doctor

America can't rebuild manufacturing by focusing only on the final assembly line. The deeper problem is the industrial layer underneath it: castings, forgings, tooling, materials, equipment, process control, and the skilled workforce that knows how to make hard parts. Those capabilities are easy to overlook until aircraft are grounded, production programs stall, or critical components can only be s...

When companies are trying to scale complex hardware, the work can easily be split into separate lanes: engineering, production, supply chain, quality, sales, and operations. Each team has its own tasks, its own constraints, and its own way of measuring progress. Keith Flynn's point is that speed comes from organizing those teams around the outcome they are trying to deliver, not just the work sitt...

What happens when a 100-year-old industrial company suddenly has to operate like a startup?  Dave Gitlin explains what it looked like to spin Carrier out of a major conglomerate in April 2020, exactly as COVID was turning into a global crisis.  Almost immediately, the company had to navigate survival mode, rethink its operating model, reshape its portfolio, and define what Carrier would become as...

Defense manufacturing is shifting from competing for programs to building the capacity to deliver them. Budgets are rising, demand is increasing, and timelines are compressing.  As George Whittier explains, the challenge is no longer winning work; it's delivering at the scale and speed this moment requires. George is the CEO of Fairbanks Morse Defense and brings over 30 years of experience in comm...

When leaders look to improve performance in complex industrial businesses, the focus often turns to individual areas, operations, supply chain, quality, or workforce.  Each part has its own targets, its own pressures, and its own way of measuring success.  My guest on the show, Tom Gentile explains, performance is not driven by any one area on its own. It's driven by how well these parts operate t...

When companies are not hitting their business objectives or have poor customer satisfaction, a common comment to this is, "We need a new strategy." So after the Corporate Strategy Leader or Management Consultant completes the strategic assessment, many times what comes back is, "The Process." As my first guest, Pat Shanahan, pointed out, strategy is not a process.  Pat brings decades of experience...

We're at a critical moment in American reindustrialization. We need more than good intentions or mission statements. That's why we're launching The Factory Doctor. In this first episode, Alex shares how he earned the nickname 'The Factory Doctor,' how his family and military background shaped his perspective, and how being inside the U.S. Commerce Department changed the way he thinks about industr...

You're an executive in a mission-critical industry. You know your organization is capable of more. So why settle for mediocrity when your team can be great? The Factory Doctor brings you the non-obvious insights and hard-won lessons that help you uncover hidden weaknesses, amplify your strengths, and lead your business toward something greater. Join your host Alex Krutz - the Factory Doctor and fo...