Creative Liquid Coatings

Abraham Norton

Additive Manufacturing Builder

My approach to leading manufacturing operations has been shaped by a simple belief that plants win or lose by their leadership teams. Not with their equipment, not with their technology and not with what gets presented in conference rooms. If the leadership team is aligned, present and disciplined, the plant will perform. If it’s not, the operation will drift, no matter how good everything else looks on paper.

Over time, I’ve learned that most operational failures are not caused by a lack of knowledge. People generally know what good looks like. The breakdown happens in execution. Standards are created, but they are not consistently followed. Expectations are communicated, but they shift under pressure. Leaders allow small deviations because they don’t feel significant in the moment. That’s where problems begin. What was once unacceptable slowly becomes normal, and once that line moves, it is very difficult to pull performance back. Think of situations where shipments are rushed and checks are bypassed.

One of the most important lessons I’ve taken from my experience is that deviation is the true enemy of operational excellence. Not the large, visible failures that get attention, but the small ones that go unchallenged. Those decisions seem harmless, but our real job is to manage deviations. If leadership does not address them immediately, they spread through the system. Over time, those small deviations show up as quality issues, missed delivery commitments and safety risks. We train our teams to become numb to the process.

Early in my career, I believed efficiency came from building better systems and putting the right tools in place. Those things are certainly important, but I’ve learned is that efficiency is really about control, and control lives at the point of execution. It lives with the supervisors and frontline leaders who are translating expectations into action every hour of the day. They are the ones deciding whether standards are followed or ignored.

That realization changed how I lead. I don’t believe leadership can exist at a distance from the work. If you’re not close enough to see the process, you’re not close enough to understand it. Leaders need to spend time where the work is happening, asking questions, observing conditions and understanding what operators are dealing with in real time. The world looks very different from behind a desk.

“One of the most important lessons I’ve taken from my experience is that deviation is the true enemy of operational excellence.”

I also place a strong emphasis on the role of supervisors as the operating system of the plant. They are not just managing people; they are managing deviations and execution. They are the control point. If they are consistent, disciplined and clear, then the system holds. If they are inconsistent or reactive, the system breaks down quickly. Because of that, leadership teams must invest in developing their supervisors, setting clear expectations and holding them accountable to the same standard every day. The operation should not change based on who is leading the shift.

Another key lesson is that strong operations do not rely on effort to achieve results. If your team must push harder every day just to meet expectations, the system is not working. That approach leads to burnout, inconsistency and eventual failure. The goal is to build processes that deliver results through discipline and repeatability. When standards are clear and followed, performance becomes predictable. Predictability is what allows you to scale and sustain results over time.

At its core, my approach to manufacturing leadership is built on a few non-negotiables to stay close to the work, protect the standards, eliminate deviation early and develop leaders who can do the same. When leadership teams operate that way consistently, plants perform. When they don’t, performance will always be temporary. It’s not complicated, but it does require discipline every single day. You can never walk past red on a board. You can also not accept green as green tries to hide the truth from you. It happens to the best of us. We aren’t lying outright. We like the feeling of comfort and often saying things are good brings about comfort that isn’t deserved. Then when you truly are green, make yourself red again with a higher standard. Comfort is never good for too long.