Last week, I had the opportunity to attend the Association for Manufacturing Excellence (AME) conference, and I’m still processing everything I learned. Between touring Hunter Engineering, attending three days of keynotes, and participating in multiple breakout sessions, one message came through loud and clear: None of this works if you don’t have the right culture in place.
Let me share what I discovered.
The Hunter Engineering:
The week started with a tour of Hunter Engineering here in St. Louis. If you’ve ever been to an automobile repair shop in Missouri, you’ve probably seen their wheel balancers and alignment equipment. What caught my attention wasn’t just their equipment—it was their transformation.
Much of what was displayed by Hunter Engineering is only 2-3 years into their lean continuous improvement implementation, yet they’ve experienced tremendous growth every year since 2022.
I had the chance to ask their President, Beau, a simple question: “You’ve accomplished a lot in a very short period. What do you attribute this to?”
His answer was surprisingly simple: “We hired Barry-Wehmiller. They surveyed our employees and found out they weren’t happy. So we immediately focused on becoming a more employee-focused company. As soon as we made employees our number one priority, everything skyrocketed—sales, operations, lean implementation, everything.”
That set the tone for everything that followed.
The Consistent Theme: People First, Tools Second
Over three days of keynotes and presentations, I heard from Air Force pilots, AI experts, lean practitioners, and the son of Eliyahu Goldratt himself (author of “The Goal”). Despite their different backgrounds and focus areas, every single presenter emphasized the same principle: culture and people must come first.
Here are some of the key insights:
Learning to Accept That Things Go Wrong
Former Air Force Top Gun, Rob “Kujo” Techner, presented on “Debrief to Win: Learning to Thrive in Disruption.” His message centered on after-action reports—getting all players in a room after any activity and being candid about what went wrong.
The key? Accepting that things don’t always go right, and that’s okay. When you accept this reality, it becomes easier to hold people accountable without creating fear. This is the foundation of a learning organization.
Are you creating psychological safety in your manufacturing environment? Or are people afraid to admit when something goes wrong? Download our free Engineering Bottleneck Toolkit to learn how to identify and address the constraints holding your team back.
The Theory of Constraints Applied to Real Problems
Rami Goldratt (son of Eliyahu Goldratt) presented on the Theory of Constraints alongside retired Lieutenant General Andy Bush. The five steps—identify the bottleneck, exploit it, subordinate everything to it, elevate it, and repeat—aren’t new. But what struck me was how they applied these principles to sales and engineering processes.
Sound familiar? When your engineering or quoting stage becomes the bottleneck, everything downstream suffers. Sales decline, delivery times extend, and customer satisfaction drops. The framework they presented was eerily similar to challenges we’re facing right now at Big Rocks Engineering.
If you’re struggling with engineering bottlenecks that are affecting your entire operation, grab our free toolkit here. It includes practical frameworks for identifying and eliminating constraints in your engineering processes.
AI Is Here—But Technology Isn’t the Answer Alone
Jeff Puma from the Manufacturing Leadership Council presented compelling data about AI adoption. His key message: AI has been around since the 1950s, but we’re now at an inflection point where there’s critical mass, comfort level, and real problem-solving capability.
I saw AI applications from companies as large as Boeing and as small as operations smaller than ours. The demonstrations were impressive—I could identify 100 different ways we could use AI at Big Rocks today.
But here’s the reality: You need to focus on developing your technology platforms just to be able to adopt AI effectively. It’s not about forcing AI onto people. It’s about setting up your systems so you can adopt AI in ways that fit your organization.
And even then, multiple presenters noted: If you don’t have a people-centered organization, even AI will struggle to deliver results.
The Human-Centered Approach to Change
Liz Haberberger from Dale Carnegie reinforced this message with her presentation on “Leading Change with a Human-Centered Approach.” It tied directly back to what we discussed in our recent webinar on supply chain challenges.
Remember the supply chain issues we’ve all been facing? Labor shortages, vendor quality problems, material sourcing headaches? These aren’t just operational problems—they’re people problems. And they require people-centered solutions.
When you’re dealing with bottlenecks in your engineering processes, vendor quality issues, or capacity constraints, the solution starts with understanding and supporting your people. Our Engineering Bottleneck Toolkit can help you map these challenges and develop people-first solutions.
My Three Biggest Takeaways
After a week of intensive learning, here’s what I’m bringing back to Big Rocks Engineering:
1. Culture Must Come First—Always
Whether it was Hunter Engineering’s President, the Air Force pilot, the AI experts, or the lean practitioners, everyone emphasized culture over tools. You can have the best technology, the most sophisticated lean systems, and cutting-edge AI, but without the right culture, none of it matters.
A people-centered culture means:
- Employees feel safe admitting mistakes
- Communication flows freely in all directions
- People understand the “why” before the “how” or “what”
- Everyone is involved early and often in improvement initiatives
2. Technology Matters—But Only If You’re Ready
AI isn’t going away. It’s a true automation system that can be implemented everywhere in your organization. But rushing to adopt AI without the right foundation is a mistake.
The focus should be on:
- Building your technology infrastructure
- Developing your team’s digital literacy
- Identifying where AI actually solves problems (not just adding it because it’s trendy)
- Ensuring your culture can support technological change
3. Continuous Learning Is a Competitive Advantage
Every organization at the conference that implemented these principles—from continuous improvement to people-first culture—reported significant competitive advantages in both sales and profitability.
What’s Next for Big Rocks Engineering?
Coming out of this conference, I have clarity on our next steps:
- First, we need to continue doubling down on our people-first approach. This connects directly to how we help customers overcome supply chain challenges. When we talk about responsiveness, flexibility, and communication in our webinar, we’re really talking about culture.
- Second, we will continue to identify and address our constraints. Whether it’s in engineering, quoting, operations, or any other area, we need to apply the Theory of Constraints framework systematically. ****
- Third, we continue to look at opportunities with our technology stack and IT systems. Not because technology is the answer, but because it’s the foundation that will allow us to adopt better tools—including AI—when we’re ready.
Speaking of constraints—if you’re dealing with engineering bottlenecks that are affecting your throughput, delivery times, or customer satisfaction, download our free Engineering Bottleneck Toolkit. It’s based on the same Theory of Constraints principles I learned about at the conference, adapted specifically for engineering and manufacturing operations.
The Bottom Line
After 20+ years in manufacturing, I continue to learn more about lean, continuous improvement, and operational excellence. But this conference reinforced something I’m learning more deeply every year: tools are easy, culture is hard, and culture is what matters most.
Whether you’re struggling with supply chain issues, labor shortages, quality problems, or capacity constraints, the answer starts with your people and your culture. Get that right, and everything else becomes possible.
