Content by Bruce Hamilton
Improvement InfluencersDoes anyone from your frontline team come to mind?
Mon, 11/04/2024 - 12:02
For an organization to develop a sustainable, continuous improvement culture, it must, as we say at Greater Boston Manufacturing Partnership, involve everybody, every day—i.e., process improvement must become an everyday part of everyone’s job. That…
The Process Improvement StoolHow the Shingo Model can help you improve your work processes
Thu, 10/17/2024 - 12:02
Not long ago, I accompanied two of the Greater Boston Manufacturing Partnership’s consultants, Bob Elliott and Peter Melnik, to a Shingo Systems Design workshop at Osram, a terrific host site in Hillsboro, New Hampshire. Bob and Peter did all the…
Think HarderEmbracing the complexity of change for the better
Tue, 09/17/2024 - 12:03
I once attended a presentation that Eli Goldratt gave for the Society of Manufacturing Engineers. We were seated in an auditorium, listening as Goldratt paced back and forth on the stage, puffing on his cigar, gesturing for effect, and occasionally…
The Focused Docs and the PatientAs we focus more on the parts, we may miss the whole
Mon, 06/24/2024 - 12:03
As years roll on, I’m noticing more parts of me breaking down: Teeth, eyes, knees, cardiovascular, stomach—the list keeps getting longer, as does the list of docs I see. I’m blessed to be living in an area with the world’s finest medical care and…
Strategy Digi-Deployment‘Don’t make it pretty. Make it right.’
Thu, 05/02/2024 - 12:03
Deming Prize recipient Ryuji Fukuda introduced a document to my company in 1989 referred to as the “X-Type Matrix for Objective Management.” Relatively unknown at the time, it’s since become a popular format for strategy deployment. Named for the X…
What Does Office Work Have to Do With Production?Following the trail of order fulfillment
Mon, 04/22/2024 - 12:03
I was asked to lead a workshop in the sales order department of a manufacturer that we had helped with process improvement on the factory floor. Those efforts had positively reverberated across the company in the form of fewer late and expedited…
Dogs and BunsIs your enterprise driven by local efficiency?
Wed, 04/03/2024 - 00:00
In a humorous moment from Steve Martin’s comedy Father of the Bride, there’s a scene where George Banks (Martin) argues with a store clerk that the number of buns in a package is mismatched with the packaged number of hot dogs: “I wanna buy eight…
Labor Wastage DayCelebrating the American worker is best done in the US
Thu, 10/05/2023 - 12:03
I’ll admit it: After five decades watching U.S. companies turning to simplistic accounting tricks to remain profitable, I’m discouraged. I was a kid when I first discovered the Toyota Production System (TPS). My eyes were opened to the immense…
Who Are the True Knowledge Workers?Hint: It’s not just the people with degrees and belts
Mon, 08/21/2023 - 12:03
Peter Drucker, celebrated by BusinessWeek magazine in 2005 as “the man who invented management,” is credited with a concept that has created confusion for me throughout my work life: the distinction between knowledge work and manual work. In his…
The First Shingo PrizeA stirring speech by the award’s namesake on its 35th anniversary
Mon, 07/10/2023 - 12:02
Last May marked the 35th anniversary of the Shingo Prize, an award bestowed each year to recognize organizations that demonstrate the principles and methods espoused by its namesake, Shigeo Shingo. Although I haven’t made it to every celebration and…