Category Archives: Popular

Respect for People

A very thoughtful post, Respect for People on the Kaikaku blog raises some interesting questions. What does respect for people really mean? Toyota empowers people: To stop the line – to stop every other worker from working – that is … Continue reading

Posted in Lean thinking, Management, Popular, Respect, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Find the Root Cause Instead of the Person to Blame

When encountering a problem or defect the inclination of many is to find a person to blame. W. Edwards Deming believed that the system was responsible for 93% of the problems and over time he increased that number to at … Continue reading

Posted in Management, Popular, Process improvement, Psychology, Quality tools, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Stop Demotivating Employees

Why Your Employees Are Losing Motivation [broken link removed – Harvard is extremely bad about breaking links, which is an indication of how little they think about anything but the short term] by David Sirota, Louis A. Mischkind, and Michael … Continue reading

Posted in Deming, Management, Management Articles, Popular, Psychology | Tagged , , , , | 18 Comments

China’s Manufacturing Economy

Brad Setser posts on manufacturing comparisons: Have China’s manufacturing powers been exaggerated? [the broken link was removed] I am all for pushing against over-generalizations that get repeated so often that they become conventional wisdom. The oft-stated argument that France isn’t … Continue reading

Posted in China, Economics, Manufacturing, Popular | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Manufacturing Jobs Data: USA and China

Manufacturing Productivity and the Shifting US, China, and Global Job Scenes-1990 to 2005 (working paper – July 2005) by William Ward, Clemson University: Manufacturing productivity growth from 1990 to 2004 should have taken away 7.5 million of the 17.7 million … Continue reading

Posted in China, Economics, Manufacturing, Popular, quote | 6 Comments

Deming and Toyota

In response to Deming Electronic Network message, Deming and Toyota (broken link removed): I have read a few of the threads referring to Toyota and their success. I am somewhat familiar with the Toyota Production System (where Lean principles sprouted … Continue reading

Posted in Deming, Management, Popular, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Global Manufacturing Data by Country

I am still looking for a good source for manufacturing data by country and year. Today I found some data from the United Nations Statistics Division. The data for the top five manufacturing economies: China, Germany, Japan, United Kingdom and … Continue reading

Posted in China, Economics, Manufacturing, Popular, quote | Tagged , , , , | 9 Comments

Management Improvement Leaders

Who’s Driving Quality Today by Laura Smith, Quality Digest. Ten years ago, in our March 1995 issue, we profiled 45 “New Quality Gurus.” Although it was one of our more popular articles, some of the “gurus” and their causes have … Continue reading

Posted in Management, Popular, quote | Tagged , | 7 Comments

Management Improvement Flavors

Lean Manufacturing Visionary Jim Womack On Frontiers Of Lean Thinking [broken link has been removed], webcast and additional questions and answers: Question: For a firm seeking to improve — what comes first? Six Sigma quality or lean implementation? James Womack: … Continue reading

Posted in Deming, Lean thinking, Management, Popular, quote, Six sigma, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Manufacturing and the Economy

In Global Market, Iowa Manufacturers Fight for Survival: The conventional wisdom has been that expanded trade would result in the United States losing low-pay, low-skilled manufacturing jobs, said David Swenson, an economic scientist at Iowa State University. But “a lot … Continue reading

Posted in Data, Economics, Management, Manufacturing, Popular, quote | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments