Manufacturing and Innovation- The Economist, April 21, 2012

May 8, 2012

“The Economist” magazine recently carried a series of articles on innovations in manufacturing.  The series was sub-titled “A third manufacturing revolution”.   These articles give a peek at new technologies and techniques that will radically change manufacturing.  Many of these techniques are already being used in production operations in existing firms.  The use of these techniques […]

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Subject: Case Study- Ace Electric Lighting Co.

March 30, 2012

Background: Ace Electric Lighting Co. has been in business for 35 years.  Their main product is a line of electric “exit” lights for commercial and industrial buildings.  Ace is the third largest supplier of exit lighting in the nation.  However, their sales volume is only one third of the industry leader.  Ace has been profitable […]

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Manufacturing Style – The Key to Evaluating New Concepts

March 22, 2012

Every year we hear about a new business technique or philosophy designed to improve production, increase quality levels, reduce inventories and grow profits.  All of these new concepts come with endorsements and claims of outstanding success.  But, how do we evaluate these concepts and their claims for success?  Can a particular technique that works at […]

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Forecasting – Lucky or Lousy!

February 11, 2012

Many times I have listened to managers bemoan the fact that the forecasts they are forced to use are not accurate.  An accurate forecast is an oxymoron.  If a forecast is a prediction of the future, is it realistic to expect it to be accurate?  Nonetheless, we have to make forecasts to help prepare our […]

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Quality at the Source – Getting Started

January 4, 2012

The last article explained the theory behind “Quality at the Source”.  This article will address the implementation of this lean tool.   Quality at the Source is a relatively simple concept in which you endeavor to make only products of the specified quality at a work station.  However, implementation of this concept is deceptively tricky.  It […]

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Christmas Mystery – Solved!

January 4, 2012

Congratulations to all those who sent in ideas about the Christmas mystery.  Two of you correctly identified “Fanny Brice” as the girl in the carol, Jingle Bells, who was in the sleigh when it was “up-sot” into a snow bank.  Two of you also researched to note that Fanny Brice was a stage personality and […]

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Christmas Mystery – Still Unsolved

December 7, 2011

Every Christmas season we sing about her but no one ever asks who she is, or what happened to her after the accident.  For the second year I have to ask “Who is Fanny Brice?”.  Please share your answer to this question on the Cogent Management Resources web site.

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Quality at the Source – How it Works

December 5, 2011

Quality at the Source (QatS) is one of the lean building blocks of Lean Manufacturing Concepts.  It is one of the most misunderstood and overlooked of the 14 building blocks.  However, it is a powerful, stand-alone set of skills that can produce significant results even if not used in a complete lean implementation. Quality at […]

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Master Scheduling to Maintain Control

October 31, 2011

A master schedule is an effective and powerful means of gaining and maintaining control of a manufacturing operation.  It deals with the product demand and the supply of resources to furnish the product.  The application of productive capacity to satisfy demand has powerful, indeed, life or death implications for a company.  Many companies do not […]

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Quality at the Source

September 19, 2011

The Roanoke Chapter of the American Society for Quality (ASQ) will host a dinner meeting at 6 PM on Oct. 18 at the Golden Corral restaurant at 1441 Towne Square Blvd NW Roanoke, VA.  The topic of this dinner meeting will be “Quality at the Source”.  This Lean manufacturing technique focuses on making the product […]

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