Many manufacturers invest heavily in improving operations, reducing waste, and increasing efficiency on the production floor through lean manufacturing principles. But when it comes to sales, it’s not uncommon for Read More
Corrective Action: Turning Tough Conversations into Positive Change
In every manufacturing environment, performance issues and behavior problems inevitably arise. The question isn’t whether challenges will occur, it’s how supervisors and HR professionals choose to respond. That’s where corrective Read More
Do You Need Succession Planning and Management?
Do You Need Succession Planning and Management? For small- and medium-sized manufacturers, securing the future of your workforce is essential to long-term success. Yet with an aging workforce and a Read More
Do you Know the Role of HR in Workplace Civility?
In the politically charged climate of today, maintaining civility in the workplace is more important—and more challenging—than ever. For small and medium-sized manufacturing companies, where close-knit teams are critical to Read More
Two Minutes on Manufacturing Excellence – The Power of Systems Thinking (Part II)
In our previous article (read first), we talked about the value of thinking models and in particular “systems thinking”. To support systems thinking we identified the 5 Elements of a Read More
Two Minutes on Manufacturing Excellence – The Power of Systems Thinking
It’s accurate to say that effective businesspeople routinely apply “thinking models” in their work and less effective businesspeople don’t. That’s a pretty sweeping generalization, but it holds up much of Read More
Two Minutes on Manufacturing Excellence – Assessing Your Factory Floor Training System
In our recent blogs posts, we’ve discussed the challenging manufacturing environment of increasing customization and, with that trend, the need for improved job training as work continues to get more Read More
Manufacturing Day 2020 – The Creative Enterprise
CALLING ALL PEOPLE WHO WANT TO COLLABORATE WITH OTHERS, CREATE NEW PRODUCTS, FIGURE OUT THE BEST WAY TO MAKE THEM, CONTINUALLY LEARN, AND BE WELL-REWARDED FOR IT. That’s what the Read More
Two Minutes on Manufacturing Excellence – Building a Great Job Training System Step 2
In our last article, we talked about step 1 in developing an effective training system. And how critical training has become, as products become, more customized and specialized causing jobs Read More
Two Minutes on Manufacturing Excellence – Building a Great Job Training System Step 1
In our previous two posts, we discussed the worldwide trend of increasing product customization and specialization and the many implications of that. One being the introduction of more variation into Read More
