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The New Look American Manufacturing by Dale Buss:
I agree by applying lean manufacturing and other management improvement ideas manufacturers can (and are) prospering in the USA. I don’t think one factor is the key. Many factors determine whether the USA will continue to lead the world in manufacturing. The USA has to continue to support a dynamic economic system, maintain a transportation system, improve the health care system, improve the educational system, maintain the rule of law, reduce excessive legal costs, improve the management of manufacturers etc.. Each country has to work on these and other systems to stay competitive globally.
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Respect for People, Toyota.co.jp
A bit different than laying off tens of thousands of workers and then taking huge bonuses. And in case you don’t know, I think Toyota’s approach is more honorable and what should be aimed for (I wouldn’t say the president always should resign but it should be a significant admission of failure).
Does this mean no workers ever come into conflict with Toyota management? No. But Toyota’s respect for workers is qualitatively different than that of most companies.
Lean and Unseen, The Economist:
Yes, as I have been saying the demise of manufacturing in the USA has been exaggerated in the popular press (Global Manufacturing Data by Country - US Manufacturing Plant Construction - Manufacturing and the Economy). Manufacturing jobs have decreased dramatically, both in the USA and the entire world. This decrease of manufacturing jobs worldwide is the most significant change. (more…)
ICAR touted as example of innovation needed in U.S.
Lindsey Graham and Hillary Clinton are co-chairs of the United States Senate Manufacturing Caucus. Is innovation our ace in the hole? I don’t think so.
There is no ace in the hole. If countries want to keep manufacturing jobs they are going to have to do lots of things right. No country has such an advantage they can expect to rely on their country being more innovative (of offering cheaper labor or their citizens working harder or…) than all the other countries in the world.
Innovation has been an advatage for the USA. It should continue to be an advantage for the USA but many other countries will innovate very well (Japan, Germany, China, Korea, Singapore, England…). (more…)
An Increase in the Gas Tax Would Hurt Consumers and Slow the Economy
There would be, on average, 37,000 fewer job opportunities each year. That works out to one lost job for every $351,000 in new taxes, which is equal to 11 years of work at average yearly wages.
Sure sounds bad. This was written in 2004 opposing a 5.45 cent increase in the gas tax. Of course gas price have gone up more than 10 times that amount. However those increased prices (which have the same negative impact of a tax increase go to foreign producers and the oil companies instead of the taxpayers. We would have been better off increasing the gas tax 50 cents a gallon and cutting the huge deficit instead of accepting such arguments.
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Pulaski’s passion for lean plumps up dealer service by Jeff Linville
A driving influence in the decision to remake the company was to reduce inventory both for Pulaski and its retailers, said Oakley.
Reducing waste without cutting jobs it one sign of success in my book. In some instances it might not be possible, and job cuts are required but I would look at that as bad sign. Possibly necessary to save the remaining jobs but certainly something to be upset with not brag about. If a lean effort brags about job cuts I think that is a very bad sign.
Conversation with Boston Volkswagen by Paul Graham
For me it did happen to someone else so it is funny 
However, I run across similar thinking and “customer service” and then I don’t find it as funny. The failure to failure to adapt to a changing world (the internet is here to stay folks) is amazing. Most companies would benefit from just adapting to the changing world without elaborate innovation plans. Innovation is great, but challenging. Don’t ignore the possible improvements short of innovation.
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Farecast is a cool internet application, and one that might actual save you money to buy, say a digital camera.
Farecast provides data and analysis to those looking to purchase airplane tickets. The graph above shows ticket prices for tickets between Boston and Washington DC over the last 60 days. I have thought for quite some time I need better data to make the best purchase decisions. Farecast seems like a great fit.
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H.C. Miller workers to earn ownership by Richard Ryman.
I have always liked the idea of employee ownership. To me this can be a great help in creating a system where employees, owners, customers, suppliers work together. Alone an ESOP does little. But as part of a system of management it is something I think can be beneficial.
The 120 or so employees of the 118-year-old company will implement an Employee Stock Ownership Plan. An ESOP is a retirement plan in which employees are assigned shares in the company annually. Those shares accumulate in a retirement account.
Employees shouldn’t allow too much of their savings to be tied to the company (see Enron). Of course those ignoring this advice that worked for Microsoft, Walmart… in their early days did quite well. (more…)
San Francisco’s Latest Innovation: Universal Health Care by Laura Locke:
This needs to be approved by the city council to go into effect. It is far from perfect but the health care system is broken and we need actual innovation to find workable solutions. The effects of the health care system on the economy are huge. Health care costs are a huge part of both losing jobs to other countries and eroding pay rates.
We need to experiment with ways to improve the health care system.
How Toyota Uses Information Technology (IT) for Kaizen by Jon Miller. He quotes Toyota’s CIO from the Japanese article:
Of course, it requires more than me making suggestions for Toyota to make good use of IT. The departments who are the users of information technology must be motivated for IT use to spread. Fortunately, the departments who are users of information technology frequently contact me to ask “Can we use IT for this?”
Working in Information Technology myself I see many great uses for IT. I also see all sorts of poor attempts to try creating IT tool for quality (including lean) tools that work much better in there original state. (more…)
Hospitals, Heal Thyselves by Cal Thomas:
Study site: CEO-worker pay imbalance grows includes the graph above.
Unfortunately this reverse robin hood (steal from the workers, stock holder, customers…) and give to the CEO tale continues. Hopefully someday soon we can at least turn the momentum in the right direction (stopping these incredibly excessive “pay” packages). Even then it will take quite a deal of reducing these ridiculous “pay” packages to reach some sense of decency. CNN article based on the report: CEO Paycheck: $42,000 a day by Jeanne Sahadi:
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Beautiful Evidence by Edward Tufte is now available. Beautiful is the right word. Tufte’s books are an example of what can be created when someone truly loves what they do and takes pride in every detail of their work. His books are excellent.
In Beautiful Evidence, Tufte explores how to best display evidence looking at: mapped pictures; sparklines; links and causal arrows; words, numbers and pictures together; the fundamental principles of analytical design; corruption of evidence; and more. (more…)
Norman Bodek responds to, Shigeo Shingo’s Influence on TPS by Art Smalley, with: Dr. Shigeo Shingo - The Greatest Manufacturing Consultant. As the title shows this article focuses on the contributions of Dr. Shingo. I still find the original article interesting and valuable. I don’t think the original article denigrates Dr. Shingo. It is true the emphasis is different in the two articles however it seems to me the difference is not that large in truth. The largest difference is to what extent Dr. Shingo’s contributions (which it seems to me are stated pretty similarly) are admired, it seems to me.
Both support the idea that Dr. Shingo offered valuable contributions. Norman Bodek obviously believes Dr. Shingo deserves more credit than the original article. At least to me though the differences between the articles is much less than the agreements.
We have updated the design of the Curious Cat Science and Engineering Blog. Please share your comments on the design: we plan on moving this blog to a similar design. (more…)
Probe finds nation’s emergency care system at ‘breaking point’ (the San Jose Mercury News broke the link so I removed it - poor usabilty on their part) by Lauran Neegaard:
The spate of similar articles reminded me of the recent post by Mark Graban: Stop calling it “ER Congestion”. He states: “It’s not an ER problem, it’s a systemic hospital problem.” I agree. The health care system is broken and has been for a long time. Symptoms like the huge cost of health care, medical errors, ER problems etc. are all related. (more…)
In Thinking About the Future Russ Ackoff does his usual great job of providing insightful ideas while not being afraid to be controversial. In this speech Dr. Ackoff discusses his thoughts on the issue of global development at the occasion of his receipt of the Tallberg Foundation / Swedbank Leadership Award:
via: Thinking about the Future and Globalization
A presentation today, Lean Thinking For the NHS, by Dan Jones is getting press coverage in England.NHS should embrace lean times:
Brainstorming under attack: 8 errors in the WSJ. The WSJ has there content behind a wall so their content is not part of the web and so I have not seen their article.
The blog post makes good points about mistaken impressions of brainstorming:
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