| Volume 9 No. 4 April 2008 www.superfactory.com | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| From the Editor | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Superfactory is giving back to the global community by funding a micro loan account at Kiva. Kiva As always we appreciate your support for our mission to spread manufacturing excellence knowledge. Take a look at our sponsorship and advertising opportunities here. - Kevin Meyer |
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| Manufacturing Excellence News | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| In the Blog | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Featured Book | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manufacturing is once again at the top of corporate agendas in the U.S. and Europe. Make or Break examines the flaws and limitations of Lean and Six Sigma, and demonstrates how businesses can revolutionize their manufacturing practices to create growth, transform plant operations, and heal fragmented supply chains. In a world of emerging markets, changing work forces and accelerating innovation, manufacturing is once again a key corporate issue. Manufacturing expertise is once again a strategic competitive advantage, distinguishing winning companies (like Procter & Gamble, Lego, Toyota, Zara, and Tata) from those that have let their capabilities languish. It may not be easy to take back control of production, target sources for scarce (and environmentally sustainable) materials they need, and cultivate a motivated, talented labor force. But there are ways to do it, and successful companies will need to learn how. |
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I have been reading a new book by Jeffrey K. Liker and Michael Hoseus Toyota Culture. It is excellent and worthy of your read but even though the information is great, how do you apply it in your company? What is the process to internalizing knowledge and applying it effectively on the job? This has been an ongoing problem for me personally. I was the owner and publisher of Productivity Press and produced probably 300 books and training courses on Toyota and Japanese management. I would go to Japan often, 67 times to date, and see what was new at over a dozen Japanese business publishers, visit the top business bookstores in Tokyo: Junkudo, Kinokuniya, Yaesu, and others, and ask managers what they read. I cannot speak Japanese nor read Japanese, at all, so I had to rely on my intuition and the opinion of the people I met before I would invest $25,000 and up to translate and produce in English a Japanese book. My track record was pretty good for I only couldn’t publish maybe one of five books that I had translated to English. But, still the problem for me and my readers was how to apply what was in the book? Reading the Toyota Culture could overwhelm you, for the book explains what has taken Toyota over fifty years to understand and apply. Is it possible to change your organizations culture and, if yes, where do you start? I will tell you what I do. When I read the book I underline the things that are important to me. (It is not sacrilegious to write in a book.) Then I go back and capture the things I underlined. I do this now using Dragon Natural Speaking version #9. I read to my computer what I underlined and it is automatically converted to Microsoft Word. I then take out the pertinent parts and develop a set of power point slides to allow me to teach others. |
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| Featured Evolving Excellence Blog Post | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Parenting Tips From Toyota Last summer I learned a valuable lesson from Hoseus Executive Director of the Center for Quality People and Organizations (CQPO). I was reminded of it as I was reading The Toyota Culture that he co-authored with Jeffrey Liker. I’ve been slowly working through the book as I have a few minutes here and there at work. The following story from pages 27-28 of the book was shared while visiting the CQPO: “As a new group leader, I was sent to Tsutsumi to spend a month getting an appreciation of working on the line and mastering one process. The team leaders told us no one would be able to complete the whole job by the end of the month, but I was determined to prove them wrong. I was installing liners underneath the wheel well when my air gun slipped, and the driver bit scratched the paint on the inner lip of the wheel well. I gasped and looked around—no one saw me do it—but they had told me to pull the andon (rope) cord if I made or caught any defect. It was my moment of truth. My first reaction was to let it go. No one would probably see the scratch anyway, and no one would know that I made it. But my conscience got the best of me, and I wanted to see if the really meant what they said about admitting mistakes. So I pulled the andon and the team leader came to fix the problem and showed me how to hold the bit with a free finger in order to stabilize it better: But he did not seem angry at me for making the scratch. Then at break we gathered for our afternoon group meeting where the group leader gave out information on safety and quality issues and heard back concerns from the members. They spoke Japanese so I could not understand what they were saying until I heard the words, “Mike-san.” Well that got my attention so I listened carefully...more Japanese and then “scratchee scratchee” ...and then more Japanese. So here it was; finally I was going to get called out for messing up and they were going to do it in front of everyone. Then, all of a sudden, the whole group looked at me and clapped and smiled and patted my back and shook my hand as they headed back to the line. I couldn’t believe it, after double checking with an interpreter just to make sure, they were applauding me because I made a mistake and admitted it. I felt like a million bucks, and guess what I did the next time I made a mistake?” I wonder if Mike uses the same approach at home with his kids. After meeting him, I bet he does. How do you handle mistakes at work? What about at home? Do you ever find out about your child’s mistake from somebody else or some years later when they are grown up? How could this approach improve communication and help resolve and/or eliminate more issues? Most mistakes are just instructional moments. Read entire post (you can also view and post comments) |
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Over the past month we have added several new products to Superfactory, including the Manufacturing Series group of 
works with local lenders to identify individual entrepreneurs needing micro loans. Superfactory's investment portfolio is obviously focused on manufacturing, which in this case can range from baked goods to bricks to jewelry. You can view the status of our investment portfolio 
Make or Break: How Manufacturers Can Leap From Decline
How to Apply Lean Principles
