In this series of posts I will talk about how strategic management developed (i.e., how to have a big-picture view of where your company is and where it should be, and especially how to get there). In my last post, I looked at the situation before there was any strategic management. This posts looks at the time between roughly 1900 and World War II. It will be mostly about managing money and operational efficiency, but there are already a few big-picture view companies popping up.
History
All postst related to the history of lean, management, manufacturing, and any other topic covered in this blog.
The Evolution of Strategic Management—Before Strategic Management
Running a company is not easy. A lot of lean tools help you with the small details and fuel the continuous improvement process. However, you should not neglect the big picture. How do you make not only small or large operational changes (i.e., the tactics), but also actually use a strategy to win the war (i.e., to lead a company to success)? That is strategic management. This series of posts will look at how strategic management evolved over time, with particular focus on its use in manufacturing. And yes, Hoshin Kanri will (eventually) be part of this short post series.
The History of the Eight Disciplines Problem Solving (8D)
One popular approach to problem solving is the eight disciplines problem solving, or 8D for short (even though they are now 9D). This is an alternative to the Toyota Practical Problem Solving. I slightly prefer the Toyota approach over the 8D approach developed by Ford, but the 8D also has its advantages. Since it focuses more on urgent quality issues, it has a bigger emphasis on quick reaction and containment plans, but in my view falls a bit short on the Check and Act of the PDCA. I will talk more about the 8D in my next post. But first let’s look at the history of the 8D problem solving, starting with the infamous Ford Pinto fuel tank issue…
Continuous Improvement Loops in Aviation—Part 2
Commercial aviation is among the safest modes of transport. This is thanks to a continuing improvement process spanning decades (and still ongoing). In this series of posts I will look at how aviation safety improved, using the passenger safety instructions as an example. My first post showed you how it was before the FAA and how it is now. This post looks in particular how the passenger safety institutions (i.e., the cards and the briefings) improved since 1940 thanks to the FAA. Now, pay attention!
Continuous Improvement Loops in Aviation—Part 1
Commercial planes are one of the safest ways to get around. Accidents are rare, and your likelihood of dying in a plane is very small compared to all other modes of transportation. However, this was not always the case. Safety in modern aviation is the result of many improvement iterations. Let’s have a look at how aviation improved one of its aspects, namely the passengers’ knowledge of what to do in the case of an emergency.
On China’s Manufacturing Catch Up—Part 2
In my last post I started to talk about the remarkable increase in the Chinese manufacturing industry over the last decades, and how China is nowadays the manufacturing workshop for the world. Yet, in addition to opportunities, there are also challenges ahead. In my last post I described that it gets harder to catch up on technology the closer you come to the front runner (example chip making), but that there are plenty of opportunities in new industries (electric cars, solar cells). I also mentioned that past quality flaws also still have an impact on Chinese reputation. In this post I will continue with more challenges and opportunities for Chinese manufacturing. This series of posts is a mixture of facts and a lot more opinions, so feel free to disagree.
On China’s Manufacturing Catch-Up—Part 1
A lot of the stuff you own comes from China, either as a completed product or with plenty of parts that were assembled elsewhere. “Made in China” is a label you see very often when looking for the source of your products, albeit not everybody is convinced of the quality. In this series of two blog posts I want to look at how China improved its technological know-how as well as its manufacturing proficiency, and what challenges it faces as well as in its opportunities to completely close the gap with the Western world. This series of posts is a mixture of facts and a lot more opinions, so feel free to disagree.
A Frequent Mistake—Undoing an Assembly Line—Part 2
Assembly lines are THE way to do mass production. Yet, with constant regularity people try out to undo the assembly line, only to fail in their endeavor. In my previous post I looked at examples by Volkswagen in Salzgitter, Volvo in Kalmar, and Opel in Bochum, who all tried, just to switch back to an assembly line afterwards. This second post in this series has more historical examples of when people tried and failed to undo assembly lines in mass production.