Back in the middle of 2017, as Tesla was ramping up the production of the Model-3 and the company was worth only $63.5 billion (as opposed to $1 trillion today), Elon Musk famously stated that he was entering “Production Hell“.  Evidently, he made it through just fine. But people reading this might think; “Isn’t Musk...

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Lean is being made too confusing for its own good, it’s time to cut the jargon, keep it simple and enjoy the benefits of an engaged and motivated workforce! Having spent three decades at Toyota, we spent little, if any time reading about ‘Lean’. In fact, we never referred to it as Lean, rather the...

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In this episode I invite Ofra Kalechstain, CEO of Matics, to join me to share her story and the story of Matics; a publisher of suite of Manufacturing Executions Systems (MES) applications that help manufacturers monitor and manage their production operation activities.  As CEO, Ofra’s responsibilities are to lead and steward the company’s ambitions to...

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One of the biggest challenges of a Lean Transformation is to create the ‘Vision of Excellence’; what should we aim to achieve over the coming years, what is possible? This is often problematic because the majority of people in the organisation ‘don’t know what they don’t know’; that is, they haven’t seen what truly Operationally...

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In William Shakespeare’s “The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark” (usually referred to simply as “Hamlet”), the main character, Hamlet, uses the phrase “undiscovered country” to refer to what lies beyond the grave – the afterlife – and our lack of knowledge of it, and our fear of it.  As it is with death, so...

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Welcome to this episode of the State of Readiness Podcast with James Considine on the topic of Operational Excellence and Agile In this episode, we will have a conversation with James Considine; the Chief of Staff and Head of Business Programs for the Aging and Caregiving business at Philips, where he oversee the enterprise PMO,...

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As the Economist means, the geopolitics of energy is all about the world’s insatiable thirst for oil. But as this article means, this notion of “scarcity” is now coming to an end, in the midst of major economical change. Furthermore and notwithstanding the other major, inevitable issue: Global warming… Read more

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What will the teardown of electric vehicles mean for the future of the mass market thereof? In this article, we describe success factors on the way to profitable serial production of EVs and discuss essential practices for paving the road toward the EV mass market. Read more 

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European Mechanical engineering companies have served the world as a constant source of product innovation, claiming high standards in product quality, services and talents. However, these strengths have been matched, if not surpassed, by different strengths in China, the faster and cheaper competitor. Europe’s mechanical engineering companies should not underestimate the challenges, because the effects...

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With a masters certificate in project management, country manager for UPS Mexico/”cross-border trade specialist” Augie Picado, gives us a thorough reality check about what global trade really looks like and how shared production and open borders help us make higher quality products at lower costs. This TED arose out of his need to tackle all the rhetoric...

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Bloomberg means that Kobe Steel’s scandal over fake quality data is just the latest example of how some competition-pressed Japanese manufacturers are bending the “rules”, and of how desperate these companies have become to stay ahead of Chinese and other foreign competitors. As a fact, an increasing number of companies in China, South Korea, and elsewhere have...

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BTOES Insights presents this case study on the Johnson Controls Manufacturing System – just one of the very best Award-Winning Examples of Successful Operational Excellence from the Business Transformation & Operational Excellence Awards, 2017. This well-rounded piece details the four foundations of the system – customer focus, stable production environment, zero tolerance for waste, and organize around pull –...

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McKinsey & Co means that while most companies do their best to optimize production processes using established rules of thumb or incomplete data, at the end of the month or reporting period, they often discover sizeable gaps between actual profits and what they had expected. Accordingly, that is because they typically lack precise-enough measures to understand the...

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Confection du Boischaut Nord (CBN) is a small miracle of manufacturing: it is one of the few firms in Indre’s once-buoyant local textiles sector to have withstood the onslaught of foreign competition, first from southern Europe, then North Africa and now Asia. Yet the overtime episode is a telling insight into a France struggling with itself:...

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Electric cars such as the Nissan Leaf may be paving the way for a revolution in the market for metals used in the industry. The new materials used to build these futuristic cars, such as Lithium, could open up a new field for commodities investors. For example, the new demand for key elements used in electric...

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The furniture production industry that had sustained a North Carolinan community for generations, was abandoned at the start of the century when furniture makers left Hickory for China. Now, little more than a decade later after the the local community college shuttered its relevant courses, jobs are coming back. The issues has become so important that competing presidential...

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Manufacturing Excellence on the up in CEE CEO Manufacturing Magazine and EuropaProperty.com have successfully completed another CEE Manufacturing Excellence & Industrial Property Awards for the 4th year in succession. Held in Warsaw’s Intercontinental Hotel, the awards ceremony was witnessed by a select group of senior European and Central European Manufacturing professionals; affirming the event’s status...

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Bloomberg reveals how and why the development of a microprocessor is one of the riskiest, costliest, and most technically complex feats in business. While Intel rarely talks about how it creates a new chip, Bloomberg Businessweek managed to visit the Hillsboro factory in May when they were given the most extensive tour since President Obama visited in 2011....

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Official patronage: CEE Manufacturing Excellence & Industrial Property Awards & Manufacturing Strategy Summit June 16, 2016 – InterContinental, Warsaw CEO Manufacturing Magazine & EuropaProperty.com are proud to announce the 4th Annual CEE Manufacturing Excellence & Industrial Property Awards & Manufacturing Strategy Summit. Our annual industry event covers, supports and recognizes manufacturing success in all sectors...

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Short-list announced for the 4th annual CEE Manufacturing Excellence and Industrial Property Awards The semi-final results for the upcoming EuropaProperty CEE Manufacturing Excellence and Industrial Property Awards representing the most outstanding and accomplished manufacturers, suppliers, companies, and individuals throughout the region in 2015 has been announced. The anticipated celebration, which will be attended by some...

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Yes, I’m broaching a hot topic. This article is deliberately not exhaustive, leaving plenty of room for further discussion. My intent: to encourage constructive, informative conversation among my many LinkedIn supply-chain experts. I have done my best to ensure that I have supported all my assertions with facts, analysis and calculations. Here is my theme: Forecast-to-actual demand variation has no...

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Huntsville in Alabama may seem like one of the most unlikely cities to base a center for genomics and other biological-technological endeavors. Yet Huntsville turns out to be a great place to recruit high-tech workers. In fact, it’s one of a growing number of smaller U.S. cities, far from the grandiosity of Silicon Valley, that...

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In Germany, the Erich Utsch AG plant is building a staple of American prisons: the equipment convicts use to crank out vehicle license plates. Utsch, with its niche product and exporting zeal, is one of the 3.7 million small and medium-sized companies driving Europe’s biggest economy. The son of the company’s founder, recently revealed their international...

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In part one of this article (read here), we discussed the key methodologies of lean manufacturing. In this second part, we would like to discuss: Getting started or improving your current effort in lean manufacturing, plus provide an assessment checklist to highlight your strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities. We will cover four topics important for implementation:...

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The Economist reveals why turbocharged four-cylinder engines now rule the road. According to their contentions, frugal four-cylinder engines – for decades – were only to be found in the most modest of motor cars. Until recently, that is, for today they are being fitted to even luxury models – given they are turbocharged. The Economist...

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I recently read an article in the Operational Excellence Group: Getting to the Corporate Promised Land.  It’s a great article listing the business benefits of Lean Manufacturing, or as I prefer to call it: Operational Excellence.  The article cites progress and benefits in two companies – Toyota and Danaher. The benefits include: lead time reduction, productivity...

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It’s been a tough several years for Toyota.  Information gained from the Toyota website indicates that, in 2013 alone (as of October), there have been almost 3.5 MILLION vehicles recalled.  Considering the total units produced in 2012 (latest annual figures available) was 9.9 million; that’s an annual recall rate of over 1/3rd (35%) of vehicles...

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The Economist attempts to rethink “low-cost” and “high-cost” manufacturing locations with the publication of this article. In terms of manufacturing and when managers are choosing where to locate a new factory, their decision depends on many things – with cost being one important factor. And with currencies constantly moving too, yesterday’s low-cost location may turn...

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The Economist reports on the extent to which 3D printing may help entrench the world’s engineering giants in the 21st Century. But these engineering companies are picky about terminology in this regard, for reasons encompassing the fact that the technology itself has now moved beyond the development labs. Indeed, 3D printing is now being used...

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Many complex manufacturing businesses have come to understand that operational excellence is an on-going process in which companies strive to produce better results.  It has an inherent collaborative nature and typically includes participation from all parts of the organization.  But the challenge in manufacturing today is that the metrics upon which the business silos of...

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