Quality Initiatives in Manufacturing: How Do We Handle Incoming Quality Losses Impacting OEE As organizations embark on Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE), I have been particularly impressed with the discussion on Quality Losses and Quality initiatives in manufacturing. As an example, consider an upstream unit that sends bad quality to a downstream unit that then produces the product as a defective product. The downstream unit can refuse the product and take delays, catego

I've been reflecting on a project I'd previously worked on which included presenting the objectives and strategies of an organization for the next few years, while identifying the market's opportunities. A standard format was routinely presented to the team to catalyze direction. One of these routine slides was a complex collection of charts and stats that had been presented many times to many of these individuals over the years. It had never received much feedback or questio

How I Streamlined My Decision-Making for Business Management My wife agonizes over decisions big or small. Once she decides, she’s full speed ahead. Until then, agony. For all of us. I am more of the personality who quickly assesses the data, considers the options, and moves ahead with a decision or direction. Perhaps it is conditioning from the roles I’ve had, perhaps it’s my nature. Nevertheless, decision-making is something I pay close attention to – and in the world of ma

It is always something to admire when people own their mistakes or missed attempts or utter flops. In the manufacturing industry, I find it outstanding. Why? Because when we embrace what went wrong and incorporate that into our ongoing business strategy, we can celebrate when things go right. This got me thinking about the courage to do it, to own your failings. Not too long ago, I was helping a friend with her resume. She works in logistics for a company and is responsible f

Maybe I’ve spent too much time in manufacturing because “failure” is one of my default words. I have tried to incorporate fiasco, breakdown, catastrophe, flop, and disappointment, but I usually wind up going with failure. Why? When things are not running at design, they are in functional failure, or they have failed. Those are the three most simple states of an asset and it’s how I think. And in defaulting to the word, maybe I’ve over-embraced it because it is an easy one. An

Seth Godin calls it “shipping.” Having the courage to reflect, write, and ship. It is taking time to build the habit to do good things for oneself. Tim Ferris calls it his 5-Bullet Friday. Five things throughout the week that he noticed, found, explored, etc. The combination of these two ideas helped me stumble onto a habit that has been transformational in my career, and in how I view my successes and failures as a business leader in the manufacturing industry. On August 26,