November 2025 Volume 7

OPERATIONS & MANAGEMENT

BRIDGING GENERATIONS IN FORGING What Our Forge Fair Survey Revealed By the Next Gen Committee (Henry Brewer, Christine Andreasen, Katie Dzierwa, Mackenzie Scrocco)

M ost forging plants run with a range of experience within every department. The Forging Industry Association (FIA) Next Gen Committee created a survey to explore the challenges and benefits of working in teams made up of different generations. The FIA Forge Fair in May provided an ideal opportunity to collect responses. On the final day of the event, the Next Gen Committee presented the findings in a panel discussion that proved both informative and collaborative. This article combines lessons from both the survey and the panel discussion. We translated those insights into practical steps any shop or office can use to strengthen their culture. Because responses were gathered during an industry event, the data reflects only those who participated during that short period. Conclusions are observational and tied to that group. Each question’s results are shown as the average response for each generation, calculated by dividing the total response value by the number of respondents in that group. Despite the limited sample size, clear patterns emerged that reflect broader themes. The Next Gen Committee hopes to explore these topics further, recognizing that inclusive and supportive workplaces are key to long-term success. For reference, generations are grouped roughly as follows: Baby Boomers (1946–1964), Generation X (1965–1980), Millennials (1981–1996), and Generation Z (1997–2012). Generations Represented in Survey Responses • Baby Boomers: 1 • Gen X: 6 • Millennials: 14 • Gen Z: 6

Knowledge Transfer Question: How well does your company transfer knowledge? (0–5)

• Boomers: 4.0 • Gen X: 2.17 • Millennials: 2.64 • Gen Z: 3.83

What people said Experienced employees feel they are sharing what matters, both in the shop and in engineering reviews. Mid-career employees cite time pressure and gaps between “what should happen” and “what actually happens.” Newer employees rate structured help highly, since baseline exposure is limited. Why it matters Intent to share knowledge is not the same thing as truly transferring knowledge. If knowledge transfer is not built into routines it will not stick. Hallway explanations, tribal memory, or single-expert dependencies lead to mistakes in production, quoting, or scheduling. What to do • Assign mentors deliberately, pairing for specific outcomes. • Use simple job aids near the work, such as one-point lessons or step-by-step cards. • Schedule cross-training with protected time. • Capture setup or project notes and store them in a shared repository. • Make checks visible: pre-run or pre-release verification steps.

FIA MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER 2025 34