Interview Archives - The MPI Group

14 03, 2023

Digital By Choice – or Chance? An Interview with John R. Brandt.
Digital By Choice – or Chance? An Interview with John R. Brandt.

Digital By Choice – or Chance? An Interview with John R. Brandt.

By MPI Editor|2023-03-14T05:16:49+00:00March 14th, 2023|Benchmarking, Innovation, Internet of Things, Interview, John R. Brandt, Manufacturing|Comments Off on Digital By Choice – or Chance? An Interview with John R. Brandt.

MPI Insight: John, you work with manufacturers around the world on digital transformation. What surprises you about what you're seeing on the ground? John: Digital transformation has been one of the fastest management revolutions we've seen in manufacturing. MPI started studying Internet of Things (IoT) and Industry 4.0 adoption among manufacturers in 2015 — because 46% of US manufacturers told us in another MPI study that they had never heard of an IoT strategy. What happened next was incredible: In just three years or so, we went from almost half being unaware of IoT to significant percentages of manufacturers [...]

The Curious Case of the Small Business (Q&A)

By MPI Editor|2022-09-30T15:13:41+00:00September 30th, 2022|Interview, John R. Brandt, Small Business Advice|Comments Off on The Curious Case of the Small Business (Q&A)

MPI Insight sat down with MPI CEO John Brandt to talk about the challenges and opportunities for small business owners right now, and to spotlight case studies in performance improvement excellence with a small team. MPI Insight: In your writing, you always make a point to use case studies from small businesses, often with 20 employees or fewer. Why do you make a habit of focusing on small business? John: Many times if you’re learning about a business concept or how a business can get better, you’ll go online or read a magazine to find examples, but they're almost always huge [...]

Getting Out of the Customer Free-Zone: An Interview with John R. Brandt

By MPI Editor|2022-08-09T13:18:51+00:00August 8th, 2022|Customer Service, Interview, John R. Brandt, Process Improvement|Comments Off on Getting Out of the Customer Free-Zone: An Interview with John R. Brandt

The CEO of The MPI Group shares practical advice for putting the focus on process. MPI Insight: When companies are looking at making big improvements, innovation tends to take the focus at the expense of process. Why do you think that is? And what’s lost by ignoring process? John: Innovation's fun! Who doesn't want to create something new and exciting and be lauded around the world as the genius who came up with this for the first time ever? (Which is quite rare, by the way.) You're collaborating typically with very smart people, you're thinking about chewy problems — it's [...]