Big W Engineering Values: Integrity on The 96% Perfect Podcast

Episode Description

High-stakes manufacturing doesn’t leave room for shortcuts.

In this episode of The 96% Perfect Podcast, host Lisa Thomas, sits down with Adam Witthauer, President of Big W Engineering Solutions, to explore what calm, disciplined, human-centered leadership looks like when the cost of failure is real.

Adam brings over a decade of engineering leadership experience, including serving as Supplier Quality Engineering Manager at the Kansas City National Security Campus, where he led a 21-person technical team with less than 2% attrition and a 93% engagement score. Prior to that, he worked as a senior quality engineer at KSNC and as a regional extrusion quality engineer at Goodyear, where his algorithms reduced waste and improved uniformity across multiple continents. He also served as a Field Artillery Captain in the Army National Guard, with 17 years of experience leading in high-pressure environments, including Afghanistan.

In this conversation, we discuss:

• Leadership lessons that translate between military and manufacturing environments

• How data-driven decision-making prevents catastrophic downstream failures

• Why engineers often stop too early in root cause analysis

• How first-principles thinking simplifies complex factory problems

• The cultural risks of silos and cliques inside technical teams

• How cross-functional rotation improves trust, resilience, and retention

• What small manufacturers need to know about cybersecurity and CMMC

• Why strong networks matter more than titles in long-term leadership success

This episode is a masterclass in engineering leadership, operational clarity, and building teams that perform under pressure — without burning people out.

If you lead in manufacturing, engineering, quality, or operations — or if you’re responsible for building cultures where people actually want to stay — this conversation will challenge how you think.

🎧 Tune in to learn why progress, not perfection, is what actually moves manufacturing forward.

The 96% Perfect Podcast