Mark Albert of MMS Excellent Article -- "Who's Your CTO?"

Mark Albert, long-time friend, manufacturing expert and Editorial Director of Modern Machine Shop wrote an excellent article titled, "Who's Your CTO?"

Perhaps I am biased being a CTO, but I really like that Mark is emphasizing the importance of the CTO in manufacturing.  Mark starts the article off with a nice overview.  I absolutely agree with his assessment that ALL manufacturing companies should have someone who can play this role.

"In many discussions of corporate management structures, you will find the new title of chief technology officer (CTO) appearing. The CTO is usually an executive-level position tasked with addressing technological issues within an organization. Big corporations seem to be more likely to have a CTO than small- or medium-sized companies. However, all manufacturing companies ought to have a CTO, or at least a person designated to play this role."

 Below Mark brings out the importance of having someone who is forward thinking.

"Because manufacturing technology is currently undergoing a period of rather rapid and profound change, companies of all sizes should consider establishing this role (and perhaps giving it the title) of CTO. This role is important because manufacturers must plan for and carefully manage the adoption of new technology. To be clear, this adoption is not an option. Companies that don’t keep up with new ways to move work through the shop, new ways to motivate workers and improve their skills, new ways to please customers and so on, will lose out in the marketplace. They will be forced to close. Here is my thinking on the duties of a CTO."

Mark later goes into specifics that are well worth reading.