The Value of Real-time Information and Insight for Manufacturers
Identifying lead indicators and getting your hands upon critical plant floor information and metrics in real-time gives small and mid-sized manufacturers insights that allow them to see — and react — to problems now while boosting performance tomorrow.
Changing the Culture
How to start culture change...culture changes are much more complicated than they seem. Why? It’s simple: a culture is pervasive. It’s in every nook and cranny of an organization, and it has deep roots. It got the way it is over time, and (this is important) for legitimate reasons.
Partnering for Growth: Tap into the Power of Your Supply Chain
Small and mid-sized manufacturers (SMEs) have a secret weapon: it is easier for them to partner for growth by tapping into the power of their supply chain
Outrunning the Bear
Understanding the Different Worldviews of Economists and Business Leaders by Ned Hill,
Back to Basics: How To Make More Money Now
Many small manufacturers ignore the improvement strategies that could improve profits now, while positioning themselves for growth tomorrow. Here is why that is not the best idea.
Margin Isn’t Enough
"When a management with a reputation for brilliance tackles a business with a reputation for bad economics, it is the reputation of the business that remains intact.” By Alec Pendleton, Big Ideas for Small Companies I grew up in a family manufacturing business, which my father had built from nothing over years of assembling the right management team, acquiring compatible companies, and steadily improving operations. By the time I arrived on the scene, there were about a dozen plants and [...]
Employee Engagement for Productivity — and Profits
Your organization can’t perform better than your least-engaged employee. Why?
As Never Before
Occasionally we all need to do what we’ve never done before, what we’ve never even considered before and embrace revolutionary change personally and within our organizations.
Don’t Just Talk About a Skills Gap — Do Something!
You can complain about the skills gap, or you can leverage the 3Es and fix it. Here's how.
Committees and Car Talk
By Alec Pendleton, Big Ideas for Small Companies Consider the modern automobile. From the moment an idea is hatched until the finished product is delivered to a buyer, the process is kind of a miracle. There are, I’m told, about 25,000 parts in a typical car, and every one of them had to go through basically the same process: someone had an idea, and that led to developing specifications, which led to design, then to manufacture, to assembly, to delivery. [...]
Brew It Forward
By George Taninecz I’ve had the pleasure to know and support talented individuals who worked within the corporate and operations brain trust of Toyota, were guided by Toyota legends, emulated the practices of Toyota in their own companies, and/or devoted distinguished careers to studying and communicating Toyota concepts. One common denominator of continuous improvement appears in all of their work — a perpetual cycle of coaching and mentoring that over time creates a culture of problem solvers and change makers [...]
Hard decision?
By Alec Pendleton Are you facing a hard decision in your business today? Let’s face it, the answer to that is usually “yes”. On any given day, there’s typically something that’s gnawing away at you, something you’re struggling with. To me, the first question to ask is simple: whether or not the decision is really “hard”. That may sound like a silly question, but really, it’s not. The question is whether the decision is hard, or just unpleasant. Over many [...]
The Value of Real-time Information and Insight for Manufacturers
Identifying lead indicators and getting your hands upon critical plant floor information and metrics in real-time gives small and mid-sized manufacturers insights that allow them to see — and react — to problems now while boosting performance tomorrow.
Changing the Culture
How to start culture change...culture changes are much more complicated than they seem. Why? It’s simple: a culture is pervasive. It’s in every nook and cranny of an organization, and it has deep roots. It got the way it is over time, and (this is important) for legitimate reasons.
Partnering for Growth: Tap into the Power of Your Supply Chain
Small and mid-sized manufacturers (SMEs) have a secret weapon: it is easier for them to partner for growth by tapping into the power of their supply chain
Outrunning the Bear
Understanding the Different Worldviews of Economists and Business Leaders by Ned Hill,
Back to Basics: How To Make More Money Now
Many small manufacturers ignore the improvement strategies that could improve profits now, while positioning themselves for growth tomorrow. Here is why that is not the best idea.
Margin Isn’t Enough
"When a management with a reputation for brilliance tackles a business with a reputation for bad economics, it is the reputation of the business that remains intact.” By Alec Pendleton, Big Ideas for Small Companies I grew up in a family manufacturing business, which my father had built from nothing over years of assembling the right management team, acquiring compatible companies, and steadily improving operations. By the time I arrived on the scene, there were about a dozen plants and [...]
Employee Engagement for Productivity — and Profits
Your organization can’t perform better than your least-engaged employee. Why?
As Never Before
Occasionally we all need to do what we’ve never done before, what we’ve never even considered before and embrace revolutionary change personally and within our organizations.
Don’t Just Talk About a Skills Gap — Do Something!
You can complain about the skills gap, or you can leverage the 3Es and fix it. Here's how.
Committees and Car Talk
By Alec Pendleton, Big Ideas for Small Companies Consider the modern automobile. From the moment an idea is hatched until the finished product is delivered to a buyer, the process is kind of a miracle. There are, I’m told, about 25,000 parts in a typical car, and every one of them had to go through basically the same process: someone had an idea, and that led to developing specifications, which led to design, then to manufacture, to assembly, to delivery. [...]
Brew It Forward
By George Taninecz I’ve had the pleasure to know and support talented individuals who worked within the corporate and operations brain trust of Toyota, were guided by Toyota legends, emulated the practices of Toyota in their own companies, and/or devoted distinguished careers to studying and communicating Toyota concepts. One common denominator of continuous improvement appears in all of their work — a perpetual cycle of coaching and mentoring that over time creates a culture of problem solvers and change makers [...]
Hard decision?
By Alec Pendleton Are you facing a hard decision in your business today? Let’s face it, the answer to that is usually “yes”. On any given day, there’s typically something that’s gnawing away at you, something you’re struggling with. To me, the first question to ask is simple: whether or not the decision is really “hard”. That may sound like a silly question, but really, it’s not. The question is whether the decision is hard, or just unpleasant. Over many [...]