The 2020 Top 25 Consultants: Katy George

"Growing up in the Rust Belt, I've seen manufacturing decline and entire livelihoods and communities change as a result," Geroge says. "Finding a solution to ensure manufacturing companies stay competitive with a worker-centric model continues to motivate me because I've seen first-hand how strengthening manufacturing results in individuals and communities achieving financial and economic stability."

George's work includes programs around product launch, manufacturing network configuration and plant performance, end-to-end sourcing and supply chain optimization, and quality-system effectiveness. She has worked with companies in digitizing their sales and marketing approaches as well as their operations, making technology-platform decisions, and transforming organization structures.

As the fourth industrial revolution gathers pace, her expertise in automation and digital platforms is guiding the firm's knowledge on the future of work and the capability building required as more organizations adopt advanced technologies.

"I've served clients for 20 years and it's been an honor to be a part my clients' transformational journeys," she says.

One client, in particular, comes to mind where the work first started with an analysis of their operations to improve manufacturing performance. This evolved to designing and implementing a production system that includes world-class lean management principles, seeing a direct impact to the business. Enter the digital era, and their paths crossed again, and they've now updated their production system with digital capabilities and advanced analytics and are premier examples of the transformation to digital manufacturing.

"None of this could have been done without the exceptional clients who are wonderful to work with, and the McKinsey teams who are unwavering in their commitment to clients and each other," George says.

She is also really proud of cross-organization collaborations she's had the pleasure of leading, she says, including McKinsey's work with the World Economic Forum and the MxD board. "Both of these are key organizations working to advance the deployment of digital manufacturing capabilities to provide even more value to companies, individuals and entire communities that rely on manufacturing," she says.

Finally, George says she's very proud of the ways the gender profile is changing in Manufacturing and Operations more broadly. "It's been wonderful to see the impact of our women-focused hiring initiatives, and great fun to work with the 'Women in Ops' networking group," she says. "We have moved the gender balance in the Operations practice from women being in the single digits of overall representation, to almost half of those hired into the practice in 2019."

Over the last few years, McKinsey and the World Economic Forum have been doing some groundbreaking research to understand the key success factors found in the "Factories of the Future," George says. "I'm looking forward to building on the foundation set by those manufacturers, seeing how new operating models evolve in manufacturing, and helping clients further navigate digital transformation."

Q&A: What does winning Consulting's Top 25 Award mean to you?

George: This award really goes to the teams and clients I work with.  Any success I've realized is not about what I have done, it is about what my colleagues have done across the manufacturing industry, which is a critical part of the global economy.