New book says factories must standardize before they digitalize

Sissel Pedersen Lundeby’s new book argues recurring manufacturing problems are driven by four structural forces, not individual failure. The launch comes as factories lean harder on dashboards and AI while many still repeat the same breakdowns.

Why it matters: - Recurring manufacturing problems waste time, money and attention when plants keep fixing the same issues in slightly different forms. - Lundeby argues plants that jump to digital tools before stabilizing processes can end up with faster chaos instead of better control. - The book targets managers and engineers in pharma, defense, food, medical devices and emissions-regulated industries.

What happened: - Sissel Pedersen Lundeby, a chemical engineer and Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, released Never Fight the Same Fire Twice: Four Steps to Durable Problem Solving for Modern Manufacturing Teams. - The book reached No. 1 in Amazon’s Industrial Production Engineering category in its launch week. - Lundeby is founder of the Oslo-based consultancy Lean Tech AS. - The release date is Oct. 27, 2026.

The details: - The book identifies four forces behind repeated manufacturing failures: Hero Culture, Busy-ness Mistaken for Progress, The Slide-Deck Consultant and Digitalization Before Standardization. - Hero Culture rewards the person who saves a batch at 3 AM and overlooks the engineer who prevented the problem. - Busy-ness Mistaken for Progress describes activity that looks like improvement without changing outcomes. - The Slide-Deck Consultant points to improvement work that stays in presentations instead of changing the plant. - Digitalization Before Standardization warns against using dashboards, AI models and alerts before measurement systems are validated and processes are stable. - Lundeby says that automating chaos produces faster chaos and can create false confidence that a process is under control. - At a dairy producer, Lundeby found $1.1 million a year in raw material waste hidden by the measurement system. - Lundeby recommends this sequence: understand the process, stabilize it, standardize it, then digitalize it. - At a chemical plant, Lundeby and plant staff built an energy model that predicts consumption across 25 products to within 4%. - That same model helped the plant reach ISO 50001 certification. - Plant staff still maintain the model 12 years later. - The book also proposes the F.A.S.T. Method: Focus, Analyze, Solve and Track. - Focus is the first step and requires a team to agree on one measurable problem before proposing fixes. - Daryl Powell, Chair Professor at USN and co-author of The Lean Sensei, said Lundeby turns reactive firefighting into deliberate organizational learning. - The book is available on Amazon in Kindle and paperback and at Never Fight the Same Fire Twice book page. - More information about Lundeby’s work is available at Lean Tech’s website and on LinkedIn.

Between the lines: - The book pushes back on a common factory mindset that treats heroics as a strength instead of a sign the system is unstable. - Lundeby’s argument is that durable improvement comes from problem definition, process control and standardization before automation. - The emphasis on plant-owned tools and staff maintenance suggests the book favors internal capability over consultant-driven fixes.

What's next: - The book is now on sale across Amazon and Lundeby’s book site. - Lundeby’s broader message is likely to resonate with plants trying to add digital tools without first fixing process variation. - The release may also push more manufacturing leaders to rethink how they measure progress, reward problem-solving and sequence digital projects.