Nashay Naeve on Career, Global Manufacturing and AI: A Serious Insights Interview
I recently had the opportunity to interview Nashay Naeve, President of the Engineered Plastic Components Business Unit at Tsubaki Nakashima. Our interview explores how a global manufacturing leader thinks about the real constraints and levers in front of her: a worldwide shortage of skilled labor, shifting tariffs and regulations, and uneven ESG expectations across the U.S. and Europe.
She traces how lessons from Caterpillar, DuPont, Redwood, and now Tsubaki Nakashima have shaped a view of manufacturing in which engineering, operations, and people systems must move together or not at all.
Nashay shares personal insight on the transition from “hero engineer” to system builder, the realities for women leading on the plant floor today, and the practical steps early-career women in STEM can take to earn credibility and responsibility.
We also discuss where AI is actually delivering value, where it remains an aspiration, and how to balance algorithmic optimization with the tacit knowledge of experienced operators, all against a backdrop of plastics plants working to cut scrap, reduce energy intensity, and turn environmental performance into an enduring competitive advantage.
The Serious Insights Interview with Nashay Naeve
The interview has been lightly edited for grammatical consistency.
What surprised you most about global manufacturing this year—something that didn’t show up in the PowerPoints or forecasts?
What surprised me most this year was how universal the skilled-labor challenge has become. It’s not regional anymore, it’s everywhere. And it reminded me that despite all the talk about AI and automation, none of it works without capable people to build it, run it, and continuously improve it.
That reality doesn’t show up cleanly in PowerPoints, but talent can be our biggest constraint and also our biggest lever for the future.
How have supply chain, labor, or regulatory pressures evolved since you took on the Engineered Plastic Components role, and what changed in your playbook this year as a result?
Earlier in the year, the uncertainty around potential tariffs forced us to take a hard look at our supply chain and rethink what truly made sense for the long-term health of the business. On the medical side, regulatory pressure is nothing new; it’s always been part of the operating environment, but we’ve had to tighten our processes to stay ahead of shifting expectations.
Those dynamics pushed me to adjust my playbook: more proactive scenario planning, more optionality in sourcing, and a much sharper focus on operational discipline so we’re never caught off guard by external shifts.
Every step taught me a deeper version of the same lesson: manufacturing becomes world-class when engineering, operations, and people systems move in unison.
Every step in my career has reinforced a single truth: manufacturing becomes world-class only when engineering, operations, and people systems move in lockstep.
At Caterpillar, I learned how assembly manufacturing really works—throughput, first-pass yield, manufacturing at scale, and the discipline required to make quality repeatable. At DuPont, I learned how to deliver under tight timelines and meet demanding customer expectations in high-tech, precision manufacturing environments like consumer electronics. At Redwood, I learned how to operate on the frontier, where the playbook hasn’t been written yet and building one is part of the job.
And now at Tsubaki Nakashima, I’m pulling all of those lessons together to build a modern plastics operation that’s both high-precision and high-velocity. The through-line is simple: build capability, build people, and build systems that outlast you.
Many engineers struggle with the shift from being the person who “has the answer” to being the person who creates conditions for others to find answers. How did you make that shift?
I hit the point where I physically couldn’t be the smartest person in the room anymore—and that was liberating. Once you experience the power of a team solving problems without you stepping in, you never go back. My job now is to create clarity, remove friction, and make the system visible, not to be the hero engineer.
As one of the few women running multiple global manufacturing sites, what kinds of resistance are still very real—and what kinds of resistance are mostly ghosts from an older era that people should stop worrying about?
Manufacturing has changed a lot since I started. Early on, I’d walk the floor and hear things like “hey pretty lady,” and half the time there wasn’t even a women’s restroom nearby. That was the environment back then.
Today, most of those barriers are gone. People are professional, supportive, and far more accustomed to seeing women lead. What still shows up occasionally isn’t overt resistance; it’s the subtle, unconscious bias that surfaces when someone simply hasn’t worked for a woman in a senior role before.
And it’s rarely about age. I have team members older than me who are incredibly open to new ideas, once they see I’m serious, capable, and focused on outcomes.
At the end of the day, people want authenticity and competence. The real unlock for me was understanding that the room moves with you when you lead with clarity and results, not when you try to fit an outdated expectation.
When an early-career woman in STEM tells you she wants to run operations one day, what concrete steps do you advise for the next 24 months—not the next 20 years?
- Get on the factory floor and own a real process. Spend time where the product is actually made: see it, feel it, understand it. Take responsibility for a line, shift, or KPI, so you learn how decisions affect scrap, downtime, and cost.
- Lead something small but meaningful. Run a kaizen, a pilot, or a cross-functional improvement with a few teammates. These early leadership reps build the instincts you’ll rely on later.
- Present your results and build visibility. Share measurable wins with leadership and practice clear, confident communication. Communication is often what accelerates the next opportunity.Â
These three steps give you hands-on experience, credibility, and exposure, the fundamentals for moving into operations leadership.
Where is AI already embedded in your operations—whether in planning, quality, or equipment—and where is it still more aspiration than reality? Where are you seeing real value?
We’re still in the early stages, but we’ve started to find some practical opportunities. On the manufacturing floor, most of our current tools rely on traditional vision systems rather than full AI, and we’re being cautious about where we apply new models until we’re confident in the data and controls.
Right now, the real value has come from using AI outside the production line, things like market research, competitive analysis, and internal planning, where there’s human oversight. Those areas let us learn and build capability without risking quality or uptime.
Right now, the real value has come from using AI outside the production line, things like market research, competitive analysis, and internal planning, where there’s human oversight. Those areas let us learn and build capability without risking quality or uptime.
We’re moving up the learning curve fast, and I don’t think we’re far from a future where AI routinely flags anomalies, predicts maintenance before issues surface, and automatically tightens quality control. That’s the next big wave of improvement we’re preparing for.Â
How do you think about balancing AI-driven optimization (yield, cycle time, scrap reduction) with the tacit knowledge of long-tenured operators who “just know” when something is wrong with a line?
AI can help us improve yield, cycle time, and scrap, but we still rely heavily on experienced operators to make sense of what the systems are telling us. We’ve had cases where the quality system rejected perfectly good parts—or missed issues an operator caught immediately.
That’s why we treat AI as a tool, not a replacement. The data only becomes useful when someone who knows the line can interpret it, confirm it, and step in when something doesn’t look right.
The people who create the most value going forward will be those who can pair hands-on experience with the ability to use AI to improve quality and productivity.
The people who create the most value going forward will be those who can pair hands-on experience with the ability to use AI to improve quality and productivity. That combination is what actually moves our processes ahead.
How has the volatility of the ESG agenda (US vs Europe) changed operational conversations about materials, waste, and energy in your plants? How do you reconcile at the enterprise level?
Even with the swings in ESG policy, especially the divergence between the U.S. and Europe, we’ve kept our compass pointed toward long-term commitments rather than short-term political shifts. Europe’s heightened focus has been an advantage: because we operate globally, we get early visibility into emerging expectations and can benchmark our plants accordingly.
In plastics manufacturing, the fundamentals don’t change; we obsess over reducing scrap, lowering energy intensity, and finding responsible ways to incorporate recycled materials without compromising precision or performance. Those priorities improve quality and cost regardless of the regulatory backdrop.
At the enterprise level, we reconcile the volatility by anchoring our strategy on two pillars: meet the highest standards anywhere we operate, and build capabilities that make environmental performance a competitive advantage. That keeps us aligned across regions and focused on what really matters—delivering world-class components in the most efficient, sustainable way we can.
What is a question early-career engineers should be asking their leaders that almost nobody asks?
“What’s the one role or opportunity you wish you’d taken but didn’t?”
The truth is, careers don’t move in straight lines. The job that feels like a step sideways—or backward—usually ends up being the experience that changes you and speeds up your trajectory.
About Nashay Naeve
Nashay Naeve is a global business leader and general manager in the industrial sector, with experience spanning automotive, electronics, heavy machinery, and general industrial markets. Over the course of her career, she has led international teams, lived and worked abroad, and driven growth in complex, technical businesses.
She currently leads the Tsubaki Nakashima Engineered Plastic Components Business Unit, with full P&L responsibility for manufacturing facilities in Europe, the UK, and the US. Nashay is passionate about building and developing high-performing teams, scaling businesses, and solving complex challenges across industries and geographies.
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