BP’s Blowout

An environmental and economic tragedy is spreading in the Gulf Coast as BP’s underwater well continues to pour oil into Gulf waters. Accidents happen, but …

What Is Operational Excellence?

Quality on-time delivery indicates something working well in operations, but does it mean an organization can accurately claim operational excellence?  What characteristics would you expect …

Ask, Don’t Tell

When someone describes a problem to you, is your first reaction to offer your thoughts and a possible solution, or to ask questions to better …

Keeping It Real

  Buy low, sell high. Supply and demand. Economics 101 explained those simple, but somehow still poorly understood concepts.  The recent (and in many ways still …

When Purpose is Forgotten..

Decades ago, the concept of protecting people’s incomes from the ravages of inflation by indexing to a measure of inflation was born.  Social security, many union …

Economies of Flow

  Anyone with more than 6 months in manufacturing has heard of “economies of scale.” That concept is the basis of large lot sizes, as …