Tag Archives: USA

The Education System

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 … Continue reading

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

Manufacturing Outlook and History In the USA and Globally

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 … Continue reading

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

Bad Weather is Part of the Transportation System

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 … Continue reading

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

5s at NASA

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 … Continue reading

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

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

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 … Continue reading

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

Looking at Auto Manaufacturing in the USA

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 … 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

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

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 … Continue reading

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

Easiest Countries for Doing Business 2008

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 … Continue reading

Posted in Competition, Economics, Management | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on Easiest Countries for Doing Business 2008

Global Manufacturing Data 2007

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 … Continue reading

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