Welcome to IndustryWeek's Weekly Review, where we take a look at the most-consumed content over the previous seven days. Military action in Iran and its impact on manufacturing—specifically logistics routes and smart munitions inventory—attracted significant attention. In addition, the IW manufacturing community gleaned management insights from Dr. Deming, learned about a smart reshoring decision and caught up with the latest ISM report on U.S. manufacturing activity. 

The Top 10 are: 

Dr. Deming: Remove Barriers That Rob Workers of Pride of Workmanship: Podcast: John Dyer and Dr. Mohamed Saleh explore Deming’s 12th point for management, discussing why pride of workmanship is important and common barriers that destroy it within an organization.

Labor Department Launches $81 Million RESTART Grants for Skilled Trades Training for Formerly Incarcerated Individuals: “Through our RESTART Program, the Labor Department is offering Americans with a criminal background an opportunity to learn in-demand skills and find mortgage-paying jobs,” says U.S. Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer.

Iran War Shakes Up Global Shipping Routes: Several of the world's major shipping companies have announced they are avoiding the Strait of Hormuz due to the risk posed by the military conflict in the region.

Why Dr. Deming Promotes ‘Vigorous' Education and Self-improvement as Management Musts: Podcast: Hosts Mohamed Saleh and John Dyer explore Dr. Deming’s 13th point for management, delving into the importance of education and how modern technologies like AI impact learning organizations.

Use of Smart Munitions in Iran Raises Replenishment Concerns: In recent strikes in Iran, the U.S. has employed an array of weapons, including missiles, drones and uncrewed aircraft.

ISM Report: Manufacturing Activity Expands for Second Straight Month in February: 12 out of 17 manufacturing industries reported growth last month.

We Reshored Long Before Tariffs and Never Looked Back: The decision seemed expensive at the time but quietly became one of our strongest strategic advantages.

A Roadmap for Equipment Health Scoring Across Multiple Plants: This process helped me sleep at night while having a powerful tool to communicate across the budget table and out to our board.

Call for Speakers: IndustryWeek Operations Leadership Summit: Live event to be held in October in South Carolina will focus on operational excellence, industrial safety and manufacturing technology adoption.

Pella Workers Talk to Machines, Errors Plummet: Window and door manufacturer Pella opened new opportunities with a voice-activated connected worker system, reducing mistakes and increasing time to competency for workers.

Editor's Choice:

Enter the 2026 IndustryWeek Best Plants Awards Competition: We have launched our annual search for the best manufacturing plants in North America. If your facility is an example of operational excellence, apply today! April 3 is the deadline to receive completed entries.