In an unforgiving and increasingly competitive marketplace, manufacturers struggle to squeeze 5 percent to 7 percent from operational cost reductions. Those who fail often don’t survive, and more than 1,000 North American plants closed last year because continued improvement to the bottom line came at the expense of critical quality controls and quality assurance.

Manufacturers that can increase throughput with the same or fewer resources have the best chances of continuing operations in North America; otherwise, their only recourse is to move to lower-cost regions around the world.

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