Employee Retention in Manufacturing for Frontline Supervisors: How Structure, Curiosity, and Accountability Build Strong Teams with Ken Handsaeme #161
Release Date: 01/21/2026
Workforce Development and Leadership Development: The Showing Up Gap That Is Undermining Your Manufacturing Productivity #172
Manufacturing Greatness | Productivity | Retention | Profits | Continuous Improvement | Safety | Workforce Development | Labor Challenges | Skills Gaps | Industry 4.0
Welcome to Manufacturing Greatness with Trevor Blondeel, where we work with organizations to manufacture greatness by leveraging resources you already have to achieve greater retention, productivity, and profits. To learn more, visit and to subscribe to Trevor’s monthly newsletter. Now, let's jump in! Most manufacturing leaders believe that if they were clear, the message landed. But there is a gap that almost no one sees — the distance between how you think you show up and how your team actually experiences you. In this episode of Manufacturing Greatness, Trevor...
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Lean Manufacturing Leadership for Plant Managers: Why Kaizen Fails Without Curiosity with Dr. Debra Clary #171
Manufacturing Greatness | Productivity | Retention | Profits | Continuous Improvement | Safety | Workforce Development | Labor Challenges | Skills Gaps | Industry 4.0
Welcome to Manufacturing Greatness with Trevor Blondeel, where we work with organizations to manufacture greatness by leveraging resources you already have to achieve greater retention, productivity, and profits. To learn more, visit and to subscribe to Trevor’s monthly newsletter. Now, let's jump in! What if the biggest obstacle to your lean manufacturing results isn't the process at all? It might be the person leading it. In this episode of Manufacturing Greatness, learn more with Debra Clary, author of The Curiosity Curve, about one of the most overlooked blind...
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Manufacturing Leadership Development: The 3 Conversations That Fix Accountability, Alignment, and Results #170
Manufacturing Greatness | Productivity | Retention | Profits | Continuous Improvement | Safety | Workforce Development | Labor Challenges | Skills Gaps | Industry 4.0
Welcome to Manufacturing Greatness with Trevor Blondeel, where we work with organizations to manufacture greatness by leveraging resources you already have to achieve greater retention, productivity, and profits. To learn more, visit and to subscribe to Trevor’s monthly newsletter. Now, let's jump in! If you’ve ever thought “I already explained this” but still are not getting the results you expect, the problem may not be effort, it may be alignment. In this episode, Trevor Blondeel explores how gaps in communication skills and unclear expectations impact...
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Manufacturing Leadership Development: Why Connection Drives Productivity and Retention with Morag Barrett #169
Manufacturing Greatness | Productivity | Retention | Profits | Continuous Improvement | Safety | Workforce Development | Labor Challenges | Skills Gaps | Industry 4.0
Welcome to Manufacturing Greatness with Trevor Blondeel, where we work with organizations to manufacture greatness by leveraging resources you already have to achieve greater retention, productivity, and profits. To learn more, visit and to subscribe to Trevor’s monthly newsletter. Now, let's jump in! In today’s manufacturing environment, the biggest barrier to productivity, talent retention, and employee satisfaction isn’t equipment or process, it’s connection. Organizations may invest in lean manufacturing, Six Sigma, and process optimization, yet engagement,...
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Why Productivity Problems Start at the Top: Manufacturing Leadership and Employee Retention: #168
Manufacturing Greatness | Productivity | Retention | Profits | Continuous Improvement | Safety | Workforce Development | Labor Challenges | Skills Gaps | Industry 4.0
Welcome to Manufacturing Greatness with Trevor Blondeel, where we work with organizations to manufacture greatness by leveraging resources you already have to achieve greater retention, productivity, and profits. To learn more, visit and to subscribe to Trevor’s monthly newsletter. In this episode of Manufacturing Greatness, we break down why manufacturing leaders plant owners, operations managers, and production managers continue to struggle with employee retention, manufacturing productivity, workforce engagement, and frontline performance on the shop floor. Even after...
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Leadership Resilience in Manufacturing: Leading Under Pressure with Dr. Marie-Helene Pelletier #167
Manufacturing Greatness | Productivity | Retention | Profits | Continuous Improvement | Safety | Workforce Development | Labor Challenges | Skills Gaps | Industry 4.0
Welcome to Manufacturing Greatness with Trevor Blondeel, where we work with organizations to manufacture greatness by leveraging resources you already have to achieve greater retention, productivity, and profits. To learn more, visit and to subscribe to Trevor’s monthly newsletter. Now, let's jump in! In today’s demanding manufacturing environment, frontline supervisors and plant leaders are expected to deliver higher production efficiency, stronger quality management, and better manufacturing productivity often while navigating workforce pressures and constant operational...
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Why People Leave Manufacturing Jobs — A New North American Research Study #166
Manufacturing Greatness | Productivity | Retention | Profits | Continuous Improvement | Safety | Workforce Development | Labor Challenges | Skills Gaps | Industry 4.0
Welcome to Manufacturing Greatness with Trevor Blondeel, where we work with organizations to manufacture greatness by leveraging resources you already have to achieve greater retention, productivity, and profits. To learn more, visit and to subscribe to Trevor’s monthly newsletter. If you have questions regarding workforce development in manufacturing operations in North America, email me at and we will propose it in the project scope of research. Why are manufacturing organizations struggling to recruit and retain great people? Let’s find out together! Manufacturing...
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Resilience for Frontline Supervisors: Building High Agency to Navigate Adversity and Improve Team Performance with Vickie Lanthier #165
Manufacturing Greatness | Productivity | Retention | Profits | Continuous Improvement | Safety | Workforce Development | Labor Challenges | Skills Gaps | Industry 4.0
Welcome to Manufacturing Greatness with Trevor Blondeel, where we work with organizations to manufacture greatness by leveraging resources you already have to achieve greater retention, productivity, and profits. To learn more, visit and to subscribe to Trevor’s monthly newsletter. Now, let’s jump in! In this episode, Vickie Lanthier author of High Agency Human: Navigate Adversity and Live Big and former military leader with four deployments shares practical strategies for building personal agency in high-pressure environments like manufacturing. Drawing...
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Defining Manufacturing Greatness: Help Me Choose the Subtitle #164
Manufacturing Greatness | Productivity | Retention | Profits | Continuous Improvement | Safety | Workforce Development | Labor Challenges | Skills Gaps | Industry 4.0
Welcome to Manufacturing Greatness with Trevor Blondeel, where we work with organizations to manufacture greatness by leveraging resources you already have to achieve greater retention, productivity, and profits. To learn more, visit and to subscribe to Trevor’s monthly newsletter. Now, let’s jump in! In manufacturing, most leaders don’t struggle because they lack technical knowledge. They struggle because they’re not connecting with their teams. When skill gaps widen, labor shortages grow, and hiring challenges persist, it’s rarely an operations problem. It’s...
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Manufacturing Leadership Development for Plant Managers: Driving Continuous Improvement Through Curiosity on the Shop Floor with Bruce Mayhew #163
Manufacturing Greatness | Productivity | Retention | Profits | Continuous Improvement | Safety | Workforce Development | Labor Challenges | Skills Gaps | Industry 4.0
Welcome to Manufacturing Greatness with Trevor Blondeel, where we work with organizations to manufacture greatness by leveraging resources you already have to achieve greater retention, productivity, and profits. To learn more, visit and to subscribe to Trevor’s monthly newsletter. Now, let’s jump in! In this episode, Bruce Mayhew, corporate trainer, keynote speaker, executive coach, and author, shares insights on manufacturing leadership, communication skills, and trust building for Operations Managers, Production Managers, Manufacturing Managers, and Shift Supervisors. You’ll...
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Welcome to Manufacturing Greatness with Trevor Blondeel, where we work with organizations to manufacture greatness by leveraging resources you already have to achieve greater retention, productivity, and profits. To learn more, visit www.manufacturinggreatness.com and click here to subscribe to Trevor’s monthly newsletter.
Now, let’s jump in!
How do you turn a one-machine operation into a thriving business?
Find out in this episode with Ken Handsaeme, founder of On Time Precision. Ken’s unique journey started as a machinist, but when he decided he wanted a better retirement plan, he started his own business, initially operating out of a barn with a single machine. It eventually grew into a thriving manufacturing company serving military, aerospace, and medical customers and helped Ken fulfill his retirement dreams.
In this episode, Ken shares the lessons he learned throughout his career, ranging from the importance of intentional leadership and the root causes of common operational problems to how curiosity-driven conversations and trust-building behaviors drive retention, accountability, and long-term performance. He also shares stories from his own career, giving a practical look at what it really takes to build a manufacturing business that can grow, endure, and succeed beyond the owner.
02:00 – Operational challenges on the shop floor often signal leadership and communication gaps rather than process problems alone
04:15 – Shifting from working in the business to working on the business enables leaders to focus on production leadership and long-term operational excellence.
05:30 - Protected time for quoting is essential to production flow, customer trust, and employee stability
06:45 – Connecting the top to the shop creates shared accountability
08:55 – To accelerate growth, leaders must balance hiring, retention, and capacity planning in manufacturing plants.
10:10 - Structured one-on-one conversations are a powerful tool for supervisor development and deeper team engagement in manufacturing.
11:30 - Curiosity-driven leadership conversations outperform traditional performance reviews in building trust and accountability.
14:00 – To reinforce trust, respect, and leadership credibility, prioritize employee conversations like customer meetings
16:40 –Involving operators in problem-solving and process improvement builds ownership and continuous improvement culture.
17:55 – Have transparent discussions on transparency in manufacturing management, including sharing expectations without overwhelming teams with financial complexity.
20:30 – Self-awareness, vulnerability, and trust in leadership are foundational skills in modern manufacturing environments.
21:50 - Consistent leadership behaviors create workplace culture that supports retention and manufacturing excellence.
23:10 – To prepare for succession, you need to build systems, people, and leadership beyond the owner.
Connect with Ken Handsaeme
Connect on Instagram: @kenhandsaeme