In the
last post I brought up the advantage of having a long range plan vs. quarter-to-quarter thinking. I’d like to explore the concept a little more by way of an analogy.
Put yourself in the spring of 1961.
The USSR, by all demonstrative measures, is ahead of the USA in human space flight, and seems to [...]
Gabriela asked some good questions in a
comment on “
More Short Term Thinking.”
One of her questions was about Toyota’s apparent lead in hybrid cars. Was it luck, or was it planned?
One answer to that question is in Liker’s book
The Toyota Way when he discusses their product development system, specifically using the Prius as an [...]
Also filed in
|
|
When pickup sales dived, automakers changed plans - Yahoo News
A couple of interesting things about this article. The first is that there is no mention of the other major player in this market - Toyota. Maybe that is because, inexplicably, they manage to continue to make a profit, and are executing their plans.
Sure, their big [...]
A couple of interesting comments to the last post (as well as the original question) got me thinking some more. I’d like to go back to basics.
There are no specific practices and behaviors that are “lean principles.”
I believe the principles operate at a higher level. The principles have to do with creating a culture in [...]
Why can’t we get a more accurate forecast from sales?
Manufacturing managers the world over have the same complaint.
Maybe the word “forecast” is tripping everyone up.
A forecast is a prediction. Maybe it is based on some kind of market analysis, maybe even asking the dealers what they think they will sell. It could be based on [...]
My friend Tom poses an interesting question to production managers:
“If I ask you to produce different quantities and types of products every day, what quantity of people, materials, machines, and space do you need?”
Of course the answer is usually, at best, inarticulate and, at worst, a blank stare. There isn’t any way to know. [...]
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
As I promised, I am going to continue to over-play the afternoon my team spent with Steven Spear.
In his forthcoming book “
Chasing the Rabbit” (to be published in the fall), he profiles what is different about those companies which seem to easily be increasing their lead against competitors when there is no apparent external advantage.
One [...]
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
The last post got way too long, and I wanted to get it out there. But of course, there are afterthoughts.
At a level higher than simple process chaos, overburden hits the entire organization when perceived demand is significantly greater than perceived capacity.
As I noted in the earlier post, segregating what should be routine from the [...]
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Jim Collins book “
Good to Great” has been a best selling business book for several years. But I am not so sure everyone knows about
Jim Collins web site. It as on-line mini-lectures, and much more material that reinforces the concepts outlined in the book.
As for how the concepts in the book relate to “lean [...]
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Operations that work to the “push” are well known for complex and interdependent problems. What looks like a problem in one area often has causes, or parts of causes, in other areas. Quality problems, delivery problems (late, too much, too little, wrong stuff), sub-optimizing attempts to reduce local cost.. all of these things propagate unchecked [...]