Let's stop people from dying immediately after retirement.
revision 1 - 9.24.2023 The heavy manufacturing industry is a challenging business to be in and may not be a popular career choice. A...
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- Jul 26, 2022
- 4 min
I forgot. What do you do after a conference?
I assume most attendees of organizations are required to that write some form of “trip report” that reflects on the take-aways of a...
- Jul 17, 2022
- 4 min
You just drifted. Stay focused.
Organizations are becoming more connected than ever before with the complete office packages of Microsoft or Google. We can work on...
- Jul 10, 2022
- 4 min
Smile. Let's see those estimates.
Finding things in everyday life that empower you to evaluate statistics or theorize estimates on a scenario has always been fun for my...
- Jun 27, 2022
- 4 min
Can we make virtual meetings not suck?
We are two years into drinking virtual meetings from a fire hose, and for some of us, it may feel like a decade. The ease of having a...
- Jun 20, 2022
- 4 min
How is your backlog?
If you are managing an organization, I will assume that you have experienced the overwhelming sensation of uncovering a backlog that is...
- Jun 15, 2022
- 4 min
"Criticality" for $1000, please.
How is "criticality" used? The word “criticality” is often used out of context within manufacturing. I often hear someone say, “that is...
- Jun 6, 2022
- 4 min
Which revision are you referencing?
Revision versions are funny things. Revisions may exist in your engineered drawings, tracking incremental improvements, and enhancements....
- May 30, 2022
- 3 min
"Profit protection" has a good ring about it.
I have heard the argument for years, that connecting an EBIT improvement with overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) improvement is...
- May 24, 2022
- 4 min
Concierge, we need ice under the overhead crane please.
Summertime brings beaches, vacations, warm air, and outages. Outages, for some of us, are the time of year when we shut down assets and...
- May 17, 2022
- 5 min
Cheers... to the last outage.
WIthin all forms of manufacturing, outages exist. They are either planned or unplanned and they could exist at some periodic interval....
- May 10, 2022
- 4 min
The most misused word in manufacturing
I’ve stopped saying a word. This word can either be used as a noun or a verb and its etymology dates to the 13th century. It is comprised...
- May 1, 2022
- 3 min
Congratulations for what?
Saturdays and Sundays are my days to slow down and write. I dedicate roughly two hours to reading, writing, and reflecting on the...
- Apr 24, 2022
- 5 min
Valuation of improving the non-bottleneck.
In a process flow optimization or value stream mapping project, the organization is seeking the ideal process steps that will maximize...
- Apr 16, 2022
- 4 min
Tina Fey could be your consultant for your feasibility analysis.
Tina Fey has been referenced as using an activity that gets you in the mindset of creativity and invigorated imagination for improv. It...
- Apr 9, 2022
- 4 min
If the data says shoot right, then shoot right.
Using numbers and estimates to predict outcomes can either be a hobby or a profession. This data is the fingerprint of what has happened,...
- Apr 3, 2022
- 3 min
Using ALL CAPS does not make it more important.
To make a claim, I called the 800 number in the instruction manual of my coffee machine. A small fastener has broken, resulting in the...
- Mar 27, 2022
- 3 min
Increasing speed starts with understanding your losses.
Imagine watching an 800-meter race. The athletes start at the sound of the gun. They ramp up in speed hitting their targetted speed on...
- Mar 20, 2022
- 3 min
Shoveling snow does not require perfection.
Last week I heard the birds chirping in my yard indicating to me that spring was in the air. All of this season’s snow had melted...
- Mar 14, 2022
- 5 min
Dr. Lloyd S. Nelson didn't yell, he insisted.
There are plenty of tools to conduct investigations within manufacturing. Some can be solved with a 5-why or an Ishikawa diagram. Others...
- Mar 7, 2022
- 4 min
Who is your department's helpline for projects?
My zipper broke on my winter jacket the other day and I was able to contact the manufacturer, work through a claim, and have it repaired....
- Mar 3, 2022
- 3 min
Did we get a good deal trading production time for scheduled maintenance?
Regardless of whether you have production units that are reliable or unreliable, I would like to propose a different type of performance...
- Feb 28, 2022
- 2 min
What is operational empathy? Part 2.
Before getting into the definition of operational empathy as a continuation of Part 1, I want to describe a mindset that we realized we...
- Feb 22, 2022
- 2 min
"No-rep" on that pushup
In some form or another, supply chains appear to be a challenge in every market. Combined with the disruptions in supply chains,...
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