The Next Generation of Manufacturing Needs a New Kind of Leadership

Lexington Peterson on Autonomy, Sustainability, Technology, and Developing the Future of Manufacturing

Manufacturing is changing quickly. Artificial intelligence, automation, autonomous machines, advanced materials, electric vehicles, composites, and smarter production systems are redefining what is possible on the factory floor. But technology is only part of the transformation.

On this episode of The Manufacturing Alliance Podcast, Lexington Peterson of ENGEL joins us for a conversation about the next generation of manufacturing—and why the future will require new technology, new ideas, and a new generation of leaders.

Lexington serves as Business Development Manager for Automotive & Mobility at ENGEL, bringing together experience in plastics engineering, polymer chemistry, business, sustainability, and advanced manufacturing.

The conversation raises an important question:

As our machines become more capable of operating independently, what will we need from the people leading them?

Autonomous Manufacturing Is Getting Closer

For years, manufacturers have talked about Industry 4.0, smart factories, connected machines, and lights-out production. We are now beginning to see that conversation move from theory toward reality.

Injection molding machines already have the ability to monitor processes, detect deviations, and automatically make adjustments that previously required an experienced technician.

ENGEL has continued pushing that idea further. Its autonomous injection molding technology uses AI-supported quality monitoring to understand relationships between process conditions and part quality, then adjusts process settings automatically.

The goal isn't simply automation for automation's sake. It's greater consistency. Less scrap. Faster startup. Higher equipment utilization. And less dependence on having an experienced process expert standing next to every machine.

That becomes increasingly important as manufacturers struggle to find skilled people.

Autonomy Doesn't Eliminate the Need for People

It's easy to hear "autonomous manufacturing" and assume it means fewer people. The reality is more complicated. Technology may eliminate some repetitive tasks, but it also changes the work people need to do.

Instead of spending hours adjusting parameters, tomorrow's manufacturing professional may be analyzing data, improving processes, integrating automation, solving more complex problems, or developing entirely new applications.

The skills change, but the importance of the person doesn't disappear.

That's why workforce development and technology development can't be separate conversations. If we're building smarter factories, we also need to develop people who understand how to work inside them.

The Next Generation Will Think Differently About Manufacturing

Lexington represents another important shift taking place across the industry. Manufacturing leadership is becoming more diverse in background, experience, and perspective.

Her own career has combined polymer science, plastics engineering, business development, sustainability, mobility, composites, and emerging technologies. She has also been active in programs aimed at developing future plastics-industry leaders and introducing younger people to engineering opportunities.

That's important because the next generation may enter manufacturing differently than previous generations did. Some will enter through machining or apprenticeships. Others through engineering. Chemistry. Robotics. Data science. Automation. Software. Materials development. Business. The industry needs all of them.

The challenge is making sure young people know these opportunities exist.

We Have to Show Young People What's Possible

Manufacturing continues to face a workforce challenge, but part of that challenge is awareness, because students can't choose careers they don't know about. And parents can't encourage young people toward manufacturing if their picture of the industry is based on what factories looked like decades ago.

Modern manufacturing is technology. It's robotics, advanced materials, sustainability, and AI. It's aerospace, electric and autonomous vehicles. It's medical technology, and solving problems that didn't exist a generation ago.

Lexington has been involved in STEM outreach and future-leadership initiatives designed to expose young people to those opportunities, and manufacturers need to do the same.

We need to open the doors. Bring students into the facility. Visit schools. Support apprenticeships. Create internships, and let younger employees tell their stories. Because sometimes recruiting the next generation begins simply by showing them:

"You could have a future here."

Sustainability Has to Work in the Real World

Sustainability can't exist only in a marketing presentation. It has to work in production.

Manufacturers still need: Quality. Repeatability. Cycle time. Cost effectiveness. Scalability. Material availability. And products that actually perform.

The best sustainable solutions will be the ones that balance environmental goals with manufacturing reality. Technology can help. Smarter processes can reduce scrap. Better process control can lower material consumption. Lightweighting can reduce material use. Advanced composites can change the way vehicles and aerospace structures are designed. Sustainability becomes much more powerful when it isn't separate from productivity.

The best solution can potentially improve both.

Mobility Is Becoming a Manufacturing Challenge

Lexington's role at ENGEL focuses heavily on automotive and mobility, an area undergoing enormous change. Electric vehicles, autonomous vehicles, drones, air mobility, and lightweight structures all create new manufacturing challenges.

How do you make components lighter without sacrificing strength?

How do you integrate multiple functions into fewer parts?

How do you scale an advanced composite process from a prototype into reliable production?

How do you produce tomorrow's vehicles efficiently enough to make them commercially viable?

Lexington has worked around developments involving large-scale thermoplastic composites, lightweight structures, autonomous vehicles, drones, and emerging air-mobility applications. These aren't only product-design challenges. They're manufacturing challenges.

An incredible technology isn't enough. Eventually, someone has to figure out how to make thousands—or millions—of them.

Leadership Has to Evolve With the Technology

And that's where leadership enters the conversation. The manufacturing leader of tomorrow can't simply understand equipment. They need to understand people. Technology. Customers. Sustainability. Markets. Data. And change.

Perhaps most importantly, they need to be comfortable saying: "I don't know—but let's figure it out."

Because the technology is moving too quickly for one person to have every answer. The strongest leaders won't necessarily be the people who know the most. They may be the ones who know how to bring the right people together. Engineers. Operators. Toolmakers. Automation specialists. Material suppliers. Customers. Software developers. Young employees with new ideas. Experienced employees with decades of knowledge.

Leadership becomes less about having every answer and more about building an environment where answers can be discovered.

Don't Make the Next Generation Wait 20 Years to Lead

Manufacturing also has to become more intentional about giving younger people responsibility. Experience matters. There is enormous value in the knowledge possessed by people who have spent 20, 30, or 40 years in the industry. But transferring that knowledge doesn't mean making the next generation wait 30 years before they're allowed to contribute.

Give younger employees a project. Let them lead a meeting. Ask what they think. Give them exposure to customers. Let them attend industry events. Pair them with experienced mentors. And allow them to make some mistakes.

If we want future leaders, we have to give people opportunities to practice leadership now.

Technology and People Have to Advance Together

The most exciting part of manufacturing's future isn't any single technology. It's what happens when all of these changes begin working together. Smarter machines. Better automation. AI. Advanced materials. More sustainable manufacturing. New mobility platforms. And a generation of people who aren't afraid to challenge how things have always been done.

ENGEL's own technology is moving toward machines capable of increasingly autonomous operation. Its current autonomous molding systems can monitor quality and adjust processes automatically, while the company says AI-based control can reduce material use and improve overall equipment effectiveness.

That's impressive.

But someone still has to imagine the next application. Someone has to design the product and build the mold, and integrate the automation. Someone has to understand the customer. And someone has to lead the team.

The machines may become autonomous. Manufacturing leadership never will.

That's why developing technology and developing people have to happen at the same time. The next generation of manufacturing is already taking shape. Our job isn't simply to prepare for it.

Our job is to give the next generation the tools, trust, technology, and opportunity to lead it.