I read with interest a recent WSJ article “How to Fix Boeing: A Repair Manual.” We had similar invisible factory issues at Ford 30+ years ago. Boeing has (correctly) identified “traveled work” as a bad practice. In automotive, we called it “first-run” but it was the same problem. Not completing work in station snowballs […]
Operations Engineering
PDCA and OODA
I have been using PDCA as my go-to problem solving and continuous improvement model for 30+ years. Recently, I happened across another great model: OODA. PDCA and OODA are a flexible and powerful combination. Plan-Do-Check-Act is attributed to Deming and Shewhart and is fundamental in old-school statistical process control. It is simple, easy, and effective. […]
Lake Michigan Water Levels
Record high Lake Michigan water levels and dune erosion have been big concerns along the “north coast” in recent years. As beaches disappeared under the rising water, homes near the shoreline were threatened. Property owners resorted to armoring the coastline with huge boulders to dissipate wave energy. In many cases, cranes on barges were required […]
A Deeper Labor Pool
In today’s post COVID economy, labor is in short supply. Here’s an old-school manufacturing best practice that can be used to develop a deeper labor pool. Way back in the day, I had a production management position at Louisville Assembly Plant during the initial Explorer launch. The launch was hugely successful. Production quickly ramped up […]
Automation with Labor Constraints
The financial justification for automation with labor constraints now has an additional component: contribution margin. Historically, automation investments have been primarily justified by reducing people. Retiring baby boomers and COVID-19 have created labor shortages. Here’s the new math: Automation is a broad term for any technology that reduces human input. While the terminology may be […]