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Evolving Excellence

  • newWhy Facebook Is A Sucker's Bet
    by BILL WADDELL Valuing Facebook at $100 billion killed the company. While it could have continued to limp along as a privately held company, as a publicly traded company it has nowhere to go but down. That is a simple...
    - 11 hours ago, 18 May 12, 5:13pm -
  • The Big Picture
    by BILL WADDELL Here's the way I see lean: This is pretty much the model I use when I am writing about companies or concepts for Evolving excellence, doing my company assessment work; or teaching at a conference , seminar...
    - 4 days ago, 14 May 12, 6:53pm -
  • And Now a Few Words from Mike
    By Kevin Meyer It's college graduation season, so once again we get to listen to a bunch of commencement addresses by supposed dignitaries launching kids still recovering from their latest hangovers out into the real world. God help us. One...
    - 5 days ago, 13 May 12, 5:40pm -
  • Blaming Deming, Lean, and Six Sigma and the Importance of "Why?"
    By Kevin Meyer There have been a couple articles in noteworthy rags over the last couple days that have raised my ire a bit - even if I eventually agreed with one of them. The first was by Adam Hartung...
    - 10 days ago, 9 May 12, 1:34pm -
  • Au Contraire, Kevin
    by BILL WADDELL It's not often that I disagree with Kevin, and when I do it is usually over a detail and I let it pass - keep up a unified front and all that. But I have opted to...
    - 11 days ago, 8 May 12, 2:58am -

NAM Shopfloor

RSM McGladrey

    Green Manufacturing

    • Leveraging Manufacturing, Part 2
      Some details on processingThe last posting began to dig into the leveraging discussion and started to elaborate on this topic using an example. The example was  from a recent paper from our research group at Berkeley and focussed on an important asp…
      - 21 days ago, 28 Apr 12, 6:46am -
    • Leveraging Manufacturing, Part 1
      First, some backgroundWhere did March go?!We finished a long set of postings on the power of the digital age in the form of software to connect the designer to the process with an eye to achieving all the normal requirements of a product but, in addi…
      - 45 days ago, 4 Apr 12, 4:08am -
    • Tools of the trade, Part 6
      Last Comments on SoftwareIn the last posting I posed the question "suppose you want to take some action - either at the design end or the manufacturing end. What tools can you rely on after you've done the background work and now want to move on to e…
      - 81 days ago, 28 Feb 12, 7:13am -
    • Tools of the trade, Part 5
      Software to the rescueIn part 4 of this series (Back in December … it has been a busy start to the year!) I introduced the idea of the "design to production pipeline."  This was to illustrate the design to manufacturing continuum and show a strate…
      - 7 Feb 12, 7:13am -
    • Green Pot? Not!
      Choice Items for the New YearI've hit the pause button on the "Tools of the Trade" postings for the moment and, on the occasion of New Year, have included here a few items that seem a propos to green manufacturing - broadly interpreted- under the hea…
      - 4 Jan 12, 3:42am -

    Manufacturing Transformation

    The Fabricator

    • Whinges across the globe
      A recent blog post by Editor-in-Chief Dan Davis was the subject of last week's "Fabricating Update" e-newsletter. This post—Manufacturing on the rise; pay not so much—dealt with an issue (starting wages) that might be hampering hiring efforts an…
      - 1 day ago, 17 May 12, 7:56pm -
    • Safety first, everything else second
      Manufacturing is a matter of life and death. Ask company owners what that statement means, and they might reply that every strong country needs a robust manufacturing sector. Ask manufacturing workers the same question, and they will tell you it's ab…
      - 3 days ago, 16 May 12, 2:32pm -
    • The model of a modern major fabricator
      Steve Wiseman is honest. “We’ve forecast about a 15 percent growth this year, but mind you that 2011 was terrible for us.” The vice president of operations at Nu-Way Industries--part of our Fab 40 list of top U.S. fabricators, to be featured ne…
      - 3 days ago, 15 May 12, 9:56pm -
    • Take a ride in a battery-powered what?
      It wasn’t that long ago that Alessandro Volta built the first battery. In 1800 he made a stack of metal plates, alternating zinc and copper, with each pair separated by layers of cloth soaked in brine. Today’s batteries are more sophisticated but…
      - 9 days ago, 10 May 12, 2:14pm -
    • The great asset of a graying manufacturing work force
      Earlier this week I spoke with Frederick Hartman at Needham, Mass.-based Vita Needle, a company unique in several respects. The metal fabricator allowed Caitrin Lynch, associate professor of anthropology at the Olin College of Engineering, also in Ne…
      - 10 days ago, 9 May 12, 12:24am -

    Toolmonger

    • Wilton Wants Your Old Vise Story
      And no, they don’t mean the Miami kind. The long-time vise manufacturer is holding a sweepstakes in which they’ll select their favorite story and bestow its teller with five grand. All “qualified” entrants will receive a “free Wilton C-cla…
      - 4 days ago, 15 May 12, 4:13pm -
    • MAC’s New Dashboard Hammer
      MAC Tools announced five new automotive specialty tools recently, including the hammer you see pictured above, which they claim is designed specifically for coaxing auto interiors into place. At first glance, it looks pretty much like the rubber mal…
      - 4 days ago, 15 May 12, 1:21pm -
    • Fletcher Automated Table — We’re Not Worthy
      Over the last few years I’ve developed a love for making furniture out of wood. I’ve built almost every kind of furniture one might put in a traditional home, incuding tables. I’m not a pro woodworker and certainly not a master of anything,…
      - 10 days ago, 8 May 12, 7:45pm -
    • Security at Its Finest
      I often wonder if the level of common sense we have is directly proportionate to our dependence on others to think for us. I’m inclined to believe that, in this case, whoever made this picture is having some fun with us. Then again, I saw a pen a…
      - 10 days ago, 8 May 12, 7:39pm -
    • Ryobi’s 40V Li-Ion Garden Tool Line
      With the introduction of the green-batteried li-ion line a few years ago, we became fans of Ryobi’s power tools. While the early (blue) One+ line pretty much defined (in our opinion, at least) the price-cheap and quality-cheap low-buck tool line,…
      - 17 days ago, 1 May 12, 5:00pm -

    Gemba Panta Rei

    • Where is Your Suggestion Box?
      The placement of a suggestion box within an organization speaks volumes about their level of commitment and sophistication in pursuing customer service, quality and continuous improvement. The example above was in the lobby of a county health cente…
      - 3 days ago, 16 May 12, 1:43am -
    • How is PDCA Inimical to Innovation?
      PDCA. Plan, Do, Check, Act. This process is at the core of kaizen, lean, six sigma, continuous improvement, hoshin kanri, the scientific method and the learning organization. I also believe that the PDCA cycle is inherent to the creative process. P…
      - 10 days ago, 9 May 12, 2:55am -
    • How to do Hansei
      I am wrapping up a fairly intensive period of reflection. This week was the first board meeting since the merger of Gemba Research and Kaizen Institute nearly 18 months ago. It has been a time of challenge, opportunity and personal growth, requirin…
      - 15 days ago, 4 May 12, 8:05am -
    • Knowledge Work Kaizen Webinar: Free Viewing Until May 15th
      Do you struggle to manage too many e-mails in your inbox? Not clear on how exactly 5S and visual management can be applied to knowledge work? Looking for some practical ways to kaizen your work, starting today? If so, the webinar Factory of One is…
      - 22 days ago, 27 Apr 12, 12:37am -
    • How to Tell if a Visual Control is Working
      By Jon Miller - April 21, 2012 5:22 PM
      - 27 days ago, 22 Apr 12, 1:22am -

    Mfg.com Mojo

    • MFG.com – From the Shop Floor Unscripted – Spargo Machine Products
      Check out the latest edition of our “From the Shop Floor (Unscripted)” series where we show you real MFG.com user interviews from people who obtained actual results. Hear about the value of MFG.com right from the source!             About S…
      - 93 days ago, 15 Feb 12, 6:59pm -
    • New MFGWatch Survey Results Announced! Q4 2011
      Today, on our 12th year anniversary (oh yeah…and Valentine’s Day!), we launched the 10th edition of our MFGWatch Survey. The results are extremely interesting and very encouraging for the state of North American manufacturing and where we are hea…
      - 94 days ago, 14 Feb 12, 7:07pm -
    • MFGWatch Survey of European Manufacturers – Q3 2011
      Beginning in the first quarter of 2011, MFG.com expanded its MFGWatch Quarterly Survey of North American Manufacturers to include manufacturers from Europe, the Middle East & Africa (EMEA). The survey was conducted from the MFG.com Paris office,…
      - 14 Dec 11, 9:45pm -
    • Q3 ’11 MFGWatch Survey From MFG.com
      The latest MFGWatch survey was just launched to measure manufacturing activity in North America and Europe for the third quarter of 2011 and their expectations for the upcoming quarter. The most recent results show that while many North American Prod…
      - 30 Nov 11, 8:52pm -
    • Women in Manufacturing Event a Success!
      On October 25 – 26th, MFG.com attended an event in Independence, OH that was all about Women in the largest industry in the world – Manufacturing. The Women in Manufacturing symposium, hosted by the Precision Metalforming Association (PMA), was d…
      - 8 Nov 11, 2:54pm -