It is a given that U.S. corporations are struggling-be it manufacturing, finance or service organizations-with multiple diseases because of innumerable bacteria. The business bacteria strain keeps getting bigger and so do the business diseases.
Just in time (JIT) gave a new name to the Toyota Production System (TPS) and a set of good tools. However, I feel that the word lean undid all of that. Look what our economy has become: We are lean and we are sick.
In a recently organized Zagreb Economic Forum, I had the opportunity to give a keynote about our Breakthrough Innovation (Brinnovation) framework. During my talk, someone asked, Why isn’t innovation sensational, sporty or sexy to attract more people and executives?
The most recent government assistance given to financial institutions has created a perception that the U.S. government has unlimited amounts of money to help U.S. corporations clean up their messes.
It occurred to me that most talk on innovation has been about culture change or product development. The real-life stuff happens in manufacturing where we are losing our livelihood faster than we can imagine.
Many experts, including myself, give advice on how to improve operations and achieve excellence. In order to figure out how to overcome challenges to manufacturing excellence, first we must be able to identify what obstructs us from achieving excellence.
Most quality programs-actually management initiatives-have been credited for failures at the middle management level. Middle management is the process owner, or the first level of supervision, irrespective of its official glamorous titles in various organizations.
