The qualification matrix (also skill matrix, competence matrix, or Q-matrix, one of the few examples where Q does not stand for Quality) is a simple tool to keep track of the qualifications of your employees. It keeps track of who can do what and how well. As a tool, it is not overly complicated but rather simple. Yet, there are still some things to consider for a qualification matrix. Let’s have a look at this basic but very useful tool.
Management
All posts about management techniques, success stories, failures, etc.
Manufacturing in a War Zone – Part 2
This post continues to discuss running a plant in a war zone. While the first post focuses on the difficult question of whether you should continue operations, this post looks at what you could do if you decided to continue running your plant despite the armed conflict nearby.
Manufacturing in a War Zone – Part 1
Running smooth operations is difficult enough in peacetime. But it becomes much trickier if you are located in an area experiencing an active armed conflict. Yet, there are many active armed conflicts on the world, like Ukraine, Myanmar, Afghanistan, and others, many of which have been ongoing for decades. I have put together some of my thoughts in the hope that it may help people and factories in difficult circumstances, with special focus on the current invasion of Ukraine.
How Managers Drove Boeing into the Ground…
Boeing is a well-known maker of large commercial aircraft. If you fly occasionally, you almost certainly have been on one of their planes. Lately, however, Boeing is better known for quality issues and crashed planes. It seems that management at Boeing skimped on quality to save cost and make deadlines. In this post I want to look closer at the management of Boeing, especially in relation to the safety of the Boeing 737 MAX 8. Besides using different news sources, this article is mostly based on the book Flying Blind by Peter Robinson (source below).
The Benefits of Mass Production
Mass production makes items faster, better, and cheaper. The larger your production volume, the lower your cost and, subsequently, your product prices. This is common knowledge, but what is not well known is the magnitude of this effect. In this post I would like to show you a few comparable products, albeit with vastly different production volumes, and hence different prices.
How to Roll Out a Lean Transformation
The goal of a lean transformation is to shift the culture of an organization toward lean. In my last post I discussed a lot of prerequisites. In this post I would like to discuss how to actually do it. Be warned, there is no magic bullet. There is no simple trick that just turns lean on. It is a lot of hard work.
Key Points for a Lean Transformation
In my last post, I showed you a good example of all the things you can do wrong during a lean transformation. Learning from these mistakes gives a list of points that are relevant for a lean transformation. Let me show you what is important for a successful lean transformation.
How NOT to Do a Lean Transformation – A Case Study of GM
Becoming lean is an aspiring goal for many companies. In my first post I showed you how Toyota does it … and why this may not work for you. In this second post of this series I will show you how NOT to do a lean transformation, and try to highlight common mistakes. In a subsequent post I would finally like to show you possible options you have for your lean transformation. Read on!