Tag Archives: USA

The Education System

Posted on June 8, 2014 by John Hunter

The current topic for ASQ Influential Voices to address is the importance of the education system and the impact on the capability of employees. The education system is important and not very good in my opinion. As a kid I found it boring and constraining and a system designed more to extinguish my quest for knowledge than increase my desire to learn. As a kid I was told by adults that adults knew better and I shouldn’t complain. I was … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Public Sector | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Manufacturing Outlook and History In the USA and Globally

Posted on February 27, 2014 by John Hunter

I write primarily about management improvement on this blog – which makes sense given the title. In the very early days I had more on investing, economic data, science, engineering and travel. Then I created three new blogs (Curious Cat Investment and Economics Blog, Curious Cat Science and Engineering Blog, Curious Cat Travel Photos blog) and that made this blog more focused. Even so the lines of what fits where can be a bit fuzzy and I continue to write … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Manufacturing | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Bad Weather is Part of the Transportation System

Posted on January 6, 2014 by John Hunter

The job of managers is to create a robust system that delivers value to customers. A system that fails constantly (fails during the continual variation the system faces) is a failed system. Bad weather is part of the variation airlines face. Any management system has to cope with the variation that it faces. The management system must be designed and managed so that the organization successfully delivers value to customers under the conditions the organization will face. The air travel … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer focus, Management, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

5s at NASA

Posted on September 11, 2012 by John Hunter

NASA did some amazing things culminating with landing on Moon. Much of what they did was doing many small things very well. They used 5s, checklists, gemba thinking, usability, simplicity, testing out on a small scale and much more. Here are a few photos from the Smithsonian Air and Space museum in Washington DC. I also have some nicer NASA 5s photos from the new Annex near Dulles Airport, but, ironically, I can’t find them. These kits were used by … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Lean thinking, Quality tools, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Leading Manufacturing Countries from 2000 to 2010: China, USA…

Posted on August 13, 2012 by John Hunter

Over the years I have been posting data on the manufacturing output of leading countries. In 2010 China finally overtook the USA to becoming the leading manufacturer (long after you would have thought listening to many news sources and political leaders). In a previous post on the Curious Cat Economics Blog I looked at the output of the top 10 manufacturing countries with a focus on 1980 to 2010. In 1995 the USA was actually very close to losing the … Continue reading →

Posted in China, Manufacturing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Looking at Auto Manaufacturing in the USA

Posted on February 6, 2012 by John Hunter

America’s Dirty War Against Manufacturing Bob Lutz, the former head of GM, says it was neither uncompetitive wages nor unions that drove the Big Three into decline. It was a management with its eye focused on the bottom line and the short term. That sentiment should be familiar to students of Deming (it is one of Deming’s 7 deadly diseases). It is sad that this bad management practices, short-term thinking, continues to do harm several decades later. Hopefully we can … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Economics, Manufacturing | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

USA Spent $2.6 Trillion, $8,402 per person,17.9% of GDP on Medical Expenses in 2010

Posted on January 19, 2012 by John Hunter

The federal government financed 29% of total health spending in 2010, a substantial increase from its share of 23% in 2007. Meanwhile, the shares of the total health care bill financed by state and local governments (16%), private businesses (21%), and households (28%) declined during the same time period. Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Health care, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Manufacturing in the USA, and Why Organizations Often Don’t

Posted on May 9, 2010 by John Hunter

Manufacturing in the USA continues to do well. But it could do better. There are reasons manufacturing that could be located in the USA is not. And addressing those can increase USA manufacturing. Some reasons are sensible, based on the existing economics and realities of comparative advantage. Some reasons are just flawed thinking, such as the “spreadsheet management” taught at many business schools that Deming and lean thinkers can understand the flawed thinking that leads to outsourcing. Typical wall street … Continue reading →

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

Easiest Countries for Doing Business 2008

Posted on November 8, 2008 by John Hunter

Singapore is again ranked first for Ease of Doing Business by the World Bank. For some reason they call the report issued in any given year as the report for the next year (which makes no sense to me). The data shown below is for the year they released the report. Country 2008 2007 2006 2005 Singapore 1 1 1 2 New Zealand 2 2 2 1 United States 3 3 3 3 Hong Kong 4 4 5 6 Denmark … Continue reading →

Posted in Competition, Economics, Management | Tagged , , , , , ,

Global Manufacturing Data 2007

Posted on October 30, 2008 by John Hunter

The updated data from the United Nations on manufacturing output by country clearly shows the USA remains by far the largest manufacturer in the world. UN Data, in billions of current US dollars: Country 1990 1995 2000 2005 2006 2007 USA 1,041 1,289 1,543 1,663 1,700 1,831 China 143 299 484 734 891 1,106 Japan 804 1,209 1.034 954 934 926 Germany 438 517 392 566 595 670 Russian Federation 211 104 73 222 281 362 Italy 240 226 206 … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Economics, India, Manufacturing, quote | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Our Failed Health-care System

Posted on September 10, 2008 by John Hunter

The bad idea behind our failed health-care system by Malcolm Gladwell One of the great mysteries of political life in the United States is why Americans are so devoted to their health-care system. … Americans spend $5,267 per capita on health care every year, almost two and half times the industrialized world’s median of $2,193; the extra spending comes to hundreds of billions of dollars a year. What does that extra spending buy us? Americans have fewer doctors per capita … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Economics, Health care | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Outsourcing To America

Posted on May 30, 2008 by John Hunter

Outsourcing To America [the broken link was removed] Toyota began operating in North America in the mid-1980s. It currently operates seven automotive plants there, four of which are in the U.S. A fifth plant is under production in Mississippi. Toyota employs 40,000 manufacturing employees in North America. In addition to the manufacture of cars and trucks, Toyota runs four unit factories in the U.S., where they produce such parts as engines, transmissions and wheels. Toyota also has a wholly owned … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Lean thinking, Management Articles, Manufacturing, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged , , , ,

Measuring the Health of Nations

Posted on January 8, 2008 by John Hunter

Measuring the Health of Nations: Updating an Earlier Analysis In a Commonwealth Fund-supported study comparing preventable deaths in 19 industrialized countries, researchers found that the United States placed last. While the other nations improved dramatically between the two study periods (1997–98 and 2002–03) the U.S. improved only slightly on the measure. Rankings: 1) France 2) Japan 3) Australia 4) Spain 5) Italy 6) Canada… 18) Portugal 19) USA. Maybe the United States is last but still not significantly behind? According … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Health care, UK | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

Top 10 Manufacturing Countries

Posted on January 28, 2007 by John Hunter

The newest data from the UN* confirms most of the recent trends in manufacturing output – most notably that China continues to grow dramatically. The data also shows a stagnation in USA manufacturing output over the last several years, though the USA remains by far the largest manufacturer. The most significant news from this latest data, I believe, is that that manufacturing output growth in the USA has been slower than global manufacturing output growth from 2002-2005. This was not … Continue reading →

Posted in China, Data, Economics, India, Manufacturing | Tagged , , , , | 7 Comments

USA Healthcare Costs Now 16% of GDP

Posted on January 10, 2007 by John Hunter

U.S. Health Spending Estimates [the broken link was removed]: Health care spending growth in the United States slowed for the third consecutive year in 2005, increasing 6.9 percent compared to 7.2 percent growth in 2004 and 8.1 percent in 2003, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid services (CMS) reported today. The 6.9 percent growth in 2005 marks the slowest rate of growth in health spending since 1999, when growth was 6.2 percent. Health care spending reached almost $2.0 trillion in … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Health care | Tagged , , | 8 Comments

China’s Manufacturing Economy

Posted on April 15, 2006 by John Hunter

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 growing is one example. In fact, France has grown faster than either Germany or Italy over the past few years, and France grew for the same reason the US grew: soaring real estate prices have pumped up domestic demand. But … Continue reading →

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