Becoming a process-focused organization requires a sustained effort, and for most industrial and service organizations that is a difficult task.

Imagine a factory with a large monument machine. It takes several days to set up. When it does run, it runs very fast, much faster than you can actually use its output. Therefore, you take the excess output and store it to use later.

In part one of this article, we explored how Woodland Trade Co. (WTC

In a previous article I wrote about the reasons why so many lean manufacturing, Six Sigma, and other improvement programs fail. In this article I’m going to expand on reason No. 1: the Academy Award Syndrome.

Manufacturing activities have strong ties to economic prosperity.