People Persons

A few of us consultants were sitting around having coffee and discussing leadership and leaders that we known and worked with.  We discussed great leaders that we have known.  The great leaders were few and far between, they are gems indeed when you can find them.    After discussing great leadership, we then explored… oh how should we put it?   Ah yes… counterexamples.  It is sometimes more fun to talk about leaders who are awful.  These leadership train wrecks are full of colorful contradictions and amazing stories.  It is horrible being under their yoke but they make from great stories years later.

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Variation vs "The Number"

We never cease to be amazed in our work with the consistency with which people overlook variation. It must be ingrained in our society. It may even be embedded in our genetic code. People want to be given, and only want to deal with, one number i.e the point estimate. They do not want to be bothered with having to comprehend ranges or even worse standard deviations.

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The Right Data in the Right Place at the Right Time

On September 19, 2012, Mark Gavoor presented a webinar “The Right Data in the Right Place at the Right Time.” This webinar was sponsored by Northwest Analytical an industry leading provider of manufacturing intelligence and statistical process control software. Mark was invited to present by Jeff Cawley, VP of Industry Leadership. Mark and Jeff have known each other for years being introduced by their mutual friend Dr. John Surak. John invited both Jeff and Mark to co-author a paper with him and co-authored a paper together in the January 2008 issue of Food Quality.

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Right Shoring

A recent issue of American Shipper had the two word title: Right Shoring. These two words said it all. There was almost no need for the the subtitle "Global cost structures have manufacturers re-evaluating outsourcing phenomenon." It had to come. In the pendulum world of business fads and phenomenon, we could not Out-Source jobs fast enough in the earlier years of this century. It goes without saying that we did it with gusto and apparently to excess. We created that “giant sucking sound” that H. Ross Perot said during a presidential debate in 1992 and was summarily lampooned for. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rkgx1C_S6ls

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The People Part of S&OP: Part II

In the 1950s, coal mining productivity in the UK decreased. Ironically, productivity went down because of the introduction of machinery specifically designed to improve productivity. Why did the machinery not increase productivity? While the machinery was designed to improve productivity, the people part of the system was still operating under the status quo. No wonder productivity went in the wrong direction.

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