The Executive SME Manufacturing Exchange is a peer community for leaders of Small- and Mid-sized Enterprises (SMEs).

It brings together plant leaders, operations leaders, supply chain leaders, HR leaders, and business owners to exchange ideas about improving operations and building workforce capability.

Rather than presentations or consulting pitches, the focus is on peer dialogue and practical insight from leaders facing similar realities.

Local meetups bring together a small group of manufacturing leaders for open dialogue around shared operational and workforce challenges.

The format is intentionally simple:

• brief framing of a real business question
• peer discussion and idea exchange
• practical insights leaders can explore inside their organizations

These meetups are designed for open conversation among peers — without formal presentations or vendor sales pitches.

To facilitate robust dialogue, self-promotion and product promotion are not permitted.

Participants are encouraged to bring a colleague or two from their organization, which often enriches the discussion and helps teams reflect on how ideas might apply inside their own operations.

The exchange is designed for leaders from small and mid-sized manufacturing companies, including:

• • plant managers
• operations leaders
• supply chain leaders
• HR and talent leaders
• manufacturing executives and business owners

Participants typically come from manufacturers navigating technology adoption, workforce capability, and operational improvement.

Discussions often focus on practical operational and workforce questions, such as:

• Applying AI and automation in real manufacturing workflows

• Improving productivity across operations and the supply chain

• Building workforce capability and technical skills

• Leadership alignment around technology adoption

• Identifying practical starting points for AI inside existing teams

Each experience typically begins by framing the “why” and business value for real business challenges contributed locally.

Many conversations continue before and after local meetups.

Leaders can exchange ideas 24x7 through the Idea Exchange, provided by our ELE partner community.

You can:

• contribute to an existing discussion
• share a challenge you are exploring
• learn how other leaders are approaching similar issues

Visit the Idea Exchange:
https://www.ele.llc/idea-exchange

The current featured business challenge is:

SME Manufacturers: How are you bringing AI capability into operations on a limited budget?
https://community.ele.llc/t/sme-manufacturers-how-are-you-bringing-ai-capability-into-operations-on-a-limited-budget/5830

Many of the business questions explored in local meetups begin as conversations in the Idea Exchange.

Upcoming exchanges are listed in two places:

• On the ELE Experiences & Live Discussions calendar
  https://www.ele.llc/events
• On LinkedIn events shared by Dirk Tussing and the ELE community

On the ELE events page, you can use the search field and type “SME” to quickly see upcoming SME Manufacturing Exchange meetups.

Local exchanges are currently being organized across several Midwest regions, including:

• Lake County
• Kenosha
• Milwaukee
• Appleton / Oshkosh

Many workforce and capability challenges facing manufacturers also involve their HR and talent leaders.

For this reason, the Executive SME Manufacturing Exchange works alongside the HR LEADer Hub, a peer community designed specifically for frontline HR leaders supporting small and mid-sized manufacturing companies.

The HR LEADer Hub focuses on practical collaboration among HR leaders who want to:

• brainstorm with peers facing similar workforce challenges
• participate in collaborative problem-solving circles
• share best practices across organizations
• test innovative talent and workforce solutions
• benchmark with other local HR leaders

The HR LEADer Hub is being developed in collaboration with experienced HR leaders, including Angie Zeigler and Suzanne Sherry, who are helping shape practical dialogue for HR leaders navigating workforce change.

Together, these communities help manufacturing organizations strengthen both operational leadership and workforce capability.