‘Black Monday’ looms over Ford’s future – 01/22/06 – The Detroit News: Good luck tomorrow when the “Way Forward” plan is introduced. It sounds like some tough cuts have to be made, the sad reality is that Ford has way…
WSJ.com – As Airlines Pull Out of Dive, United Charts Its Own Course ($$ Subscription) Most of what we hear about airlines is “low cost” this or “cutting costs” that. Everyone is chasing Southwest’s low labor costs or copying them…
Society of Manufacturing Engineers Here’s a good overview of the Toyota/GM “Joint Venture” plant, NUMMI. I put “JV” in quotes because, sure there is joint ownership, but it’s not really jointly managed. A manager at NUMMI says: Most people are…
Article Link This is a great Q&A with Seizo Okamoto – president of Toyota’s truck plant in Princeton Indiana focusing on the challenges of teaching the Toyota Production System to US workers. The focus on teaching as the best method…
TL;DR:The late Norman Bodek argues that Lean fails not due to poor workers or missing tools, but because management systems prioritize short-term results over developing people. Toyota’s real advantage, he says, is its long-term commitment to respect, learning, and empowering…
News 8 Austin | 24 Hour Local News | LOCAL NEWS This begs the question — how many uniform/clothing factories are left in the U.S. that could make these uniforms? There must be some, I mean New Balance uses lean…
CNN – Nov. 22, 2005 How ironic that we’re reading about mass layoffs in the “big, old, and slow” companies (such as the auto industry) while there is a projected shortage of skilled manufacturing workers. There’s no shortage of people…
From today’s WSJ, in the article about GM’s possible plant closures: While the details of GM’s plans remain unclear, GM officials have said that their long-term strategy is to shift more production to lower-cost locations outside North America and to…
Here is installment #4 of the Jim Womack Q&A, where we discuss the car buying process, the teaching (or lack thereof) of lean principles in our universities, supplier relationships, and some of the blog reader Q&A. Part 1 Part 2…
Here is installment #3 in my exclusive Q&A with Jim Womack, co-author of Lean Solutions along with Daniel Jones. Here, Jim discusses more Lean Consumption and Lean Solutions concepts, discussing executive leadership types, the role of process thinkers, Dell Computer,…
Thanks again to Jim Womack for his participation. In the next few installments, we’ll move into questions about America’s manufacturing competitiveness, Dell Computer, and opportunities for entrepreneurs through Lean Thinking. Be sure to check back again for future installments. Part…
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 New Q&A February 2006 Be sure to see all five parts of the Q&A, links are above and at the end of Part #1. Thanks to James P. Womack, co-author…