The New Math of Manufacturing
Come with me, for a moment, to the plant floor of the well-respected (albeit fictional) drill manufacturer, Grunnings. Plant Manager Vernon Dursley is evaluating his energy costs — and finds the recent increases to resemble nothing so much as bad witchcraft. As his complexion turns an unpleasant shade of purple, his Assistant Manager chimes in: “Look, it’s painful, but energy is overhead — we just have to bite the drill bit and write a check.” And so it was, for a couple hundred years (more or less). Energy costs were an unfathomable, seemingly unfixable drain on profits. It could [...]
