MORE ROI: Closing the Technology Adoption Gap That's Costing Manufacturers Performance
Overview
Manufacturers are investing in automation, robotics, and digital systems faster than ever. In survey after survey, executives report the same frustration: the productivity and output gains the business case promised aren't showing up. In Deloitte's 2025 smart manufacturing and operations survey of 600 manufacturing executives, workforce readiness to capture the value of these investments was the single most-cited concern in the industry, ahead of cost, supply chain, and demand volatility.
This isn't a technology problem. It's a leadership problem, and it's solvable. In this webcast, Kathy Miller, Shingo prize recipient and author of MORE Is Better: Leading Operations with Meaning, Optimism, and Relationships for Excellence, draws on three decades leading global operations and business transformations at GM, Parker Hannifin, Rolls-Royce, and Vertiv to show AME leaders exactly which leadership practices close the gap between installing new technology and actually getting the performance results from it. Using her MORE framework — Meaning, Optimism, and Relationships — Kathy translates the science of human flourishing into specific, practical moves leaders can make during a technology rollout: how to redesign roles so automation elevates skill instead of eliminating purpose, how to build workforce confidence and follow-through using a structured goal-setting method, and how to surface adoption problems before they show up in a performance report.
This session is built for leaders who have already made the technology investment and need it to pay off, not another argument for why the human side of change matters, but a working playbook for what to do about it this quarter.
Host Company
MORE 4 Leaders is a leadership development and advisory company founded by award-winning manufacturing executive Kathy Miller. Through keynote speaking, customized workshops, leadership development programs, and executive coaching, the company helps leaders translate proven organizational research into practical workplace solutions. Its approach combines decades of frontline manufacturing experience with the science of positive psychology, emphasizing meaning, optimism, and relationships as the foundation for sustainable excellence. MORE 4 Leaders equips leaders to build stronger cultures, unlock the potential of their teams, and deliver meaningful business results. more4leaders.com
Presenter
Kathy Miller guides operations leaders on how to turn culture into a competitive advantage that shows up in safety, quality, delivery, and the bottom line. A former global director of manufacturing, assembly & test for Rrolls-Royce defense and global VP of the vertiv operating system, Kathy has led multi-billion-dollar operations across aerospace, automotive, and diversified industrials. She is a Shingo prize recipient (2004) and a Women in Manufacturing hall of fame inductee (2021), known for building systems and cultures where people do their best work — and results follow.
Kathy is the author of MORE Is Better: Leading Operations with Meaning, Optimism, and Relationships for Excellence and co-author of Steel Toes and Stilettos: A Ttrue Story of Women Manufacturing Leaders and Lean Transformation Success, both published by Routledge/Taylor & Francis. She holds a master of applied positive psychology from the University of Pennsylvania, an MBA from Ball State University, and a B.S. in industrial & systems engineering from Kettering University. She serves as an Independent board director for Amsted Industries and is a member of AME, the International Coaching Federation, and Women in Manufacturing.
Agenda
Wednesday, November 18, 2026
Eastern Time
1:00 p.m. Intro to session and Kathy
1:05 p.m. Presentation
1:50 p.m. Q&A
2:00 p.m. Conclusion
PARTICIPANT BENEFITS
- Identify the three most common reasons technology investments fail to deliver their projected ROI — and recognize which one is a leadership gap rather than a technology gap.
- Apply a structured post-go-live practice for observing real adoption on the floor, so leaders catch resistance and workarounds before they erode performance metrics.
- Use the BRIDGE goal-setting methodology to build workforce confidence and sustained follow-through during a technology rollout, rather than a one-time launch event.
- Leave with one specific practice to implement in their own operation within the next 30 days
WHO SHOULD ATTEND
This session is designed for AME's core audience:
- Plant and site leaders
- Operations
- Continuous improvement leaders
- HR/L&D partners who are increasingly co-owners of digital transformation and automation rollouts.
It is equally relevant to leaders currently mid-rollout on a technology investment and to those planning one, and it is written to be immediately actionable rather than conceptual, attendees should leave with something to try, not just something to think about.
Safety Requirements
OTHER REGISTRATION INFORMATION
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