Industrial Management

Browse past and current articles from this publication.

Talk it up (and down and across).(way to handle organizational communications)
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY No matter what level of co-worker yo're speaking with, there are specific strategies, models, and guides you can use to make communication more effective. Sharing technical and t . . .

Margin improvement: more than a notion.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Improving operating margins and cash flow is on the minds of most managers, yet the tools and language used to meet these goals are constraining, resulting in billions of dollars . . .

IT: ubiquitous force.(Global tectonics: Part 3)(Information technology)
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Information technology and its results touch every aspect of our lives. Statistics reveal that If will be all ever more vital and multidimensional part of our daily lives. While . . .

Focused journey of change.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The challenge: Align a newly merged manufacturing organization to a common way of doing business while meeting ongoing contractual obligations. Overcoming this challenge would re . . .

A leader's house.(personnel perspectives)
We each have an "emotional house" that consists of several necessary elements: * The soil upon which the house is built: courage * The foundation: confidence * Four walls: communication, confr . . .

Profit profiling: a strategic planning tool.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Identify opportunities for improvement by graphically analyzing the relative profitability of various segments of your business, The side-by-side comparison makes it easier to id . . .

Big results from small ideas.(business innovations )
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Sure, everyone wants to hit one out of the park with a solution that is so elegant, so profound that it stuns by virtue of its brilliance. But really, how often does that happen? . . .

Nanotechnology: small revolution.(Global tectonics: Part 2)
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Nanotechnology is already' attracting considerable investment by both governments and private industry worldwide. When perfected, advanced nanotechnology will streamline and redu . . .

Five steps to excellence.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY No one ever said excellence was painless. More than anything else, keep in mind that achieving excellence is largely a human resources issue. Begin by aligning expectations (easi . . .

Relationships matter.(personnel perspectives)
In a recent column, I wrote about Sally, a consumer aggravated by an inefficient and insensitive organization ("Customer Rage," January/February). Since the publication of that column, I have heard . . .

RFID reshapes the global supply chain.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY An efficiently managed supply chain provides a competitive business advantage, but it requires a robust information technology infrastructure, Perhaps the most influential techno . . .

The growth of biotechnology.(Global tectonics: Part 1)
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY In the span of a decade, biotechnology has evolved from an R&D initiative to a major force in the agriculture and health care industries. Manufacturers should prepare to feel inc . . .

The power of balance.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Using a balanced-whether it's implemented in a single department or companywide-results in better equilibrium among organizational goals that can be as varied as revenue and safe . . .

It's all about the customer.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Demand-driven supply networks are replacing factory-based push supply chains of the 20th century as leading companies learn how customer-centered businesses operate differently. . . .

Showing the way.(personnel perspective)
Jack appeared in my office quite despondent. He had recently been promoted at work. What was going on? Jack had originally been hired to work in the factory on the assembly line and to help out in . . .

The happy marriage of push and pull.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The current management emphasis on lean manufacturing recognizes that pull production is the way to achieve value creation with Less waste. But what to do, then, with the MRP sys . . .

Build the business with powerful project management.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Project management is a powerful tool that you can use throughout an organization to boost personal and collaborative productivity and ultimately show triple-digit return on inve . . .

Networked innovation drives profits.(manufacturers demand for innovation )
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Growing demand for innovation is overwhelming manufacturers' ineffective invention-to-innovation processes. To match demand, firms must join an emerging market model--networked i . . .

The price of leanness.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY How have companies reduced inventories and decreased the volatility of capacity utilization? the answer is a mix of lean manufacturing, supply chain management, and capital manag . . .

Customer rage.(personnel perspectives)
"You have heard of road rage and blind rage, but have you ever heard of customer rage? From my own experiences and after listening to a client recently, I wonder if this is the latest "rage." Sall . . .

Managing from the inside out.(performance of management team in business organization )
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY It's easy to fall into the trap of looking for answers "out there." But the real solutions to improved business performance are inside your very organization. Get the management . . .

7 formulas for team success.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY After you master engineering and an array of process improvement techniques, achieve some success, and receive promotions to management levels, the next challenge is coping with . . .

Corporate culture makes a fiscal difference.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Companies really can (and really should) measure their culture because a weak culture can cost an organization hard cash. Caterpillar Inc. has enjoyed success with the cultural a . . .

Leading with responsibility.
Organizations continue to face a challenge--how to get more managers to become leaders who take responsibility for the situations they help create. In some ways, organizations encourage managers to . . .

No boundaries.(personal perspectives)(Editorial)
A few weeks ago, I met a woman who told me how much she enjoyed her job. I asked her why she found her work so fulfilling. Trish (not her real name) is a school nurse. Her school's mission is to h . . .

Not in my company: preventing sexual harassment.
"ABC Co. was convicted of sexually harassing female employees." Does that sound like the kind of free advertising that would help your organization? No, we wouldn't like to see our businesses get th . . .

Improve your cultural capital.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY A cohesive culture based on values is rapidly becoming one of the most important criteria for business success. Why? Not just because it's the right thing to do. It's also the pr . . .

Environmental management is good business.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Companies are increasingly investigating environmental management certification--either because their customers demand it or because it promises to offer opportunities for improv . . .

Traversing the execution minefield.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY In an ideal world, a firm would have exceptional ideas, brilliant strategies, and flawless execution. A multitude of books and articles have been written about developing breakth . . .

Splitting hairs.(Methods of authority delegation)
In response to my July/August column ("Delegation: Responsibility and Authority") I received the following message: "I feel that there is a good potential for using management engineering, an emer . . .

Change management for big systems.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY All it takes is one example of completely inadequate change management in a big system to illustrate how to do things the wrong way. If you anticipate changes in a big system, pr . . .

Benchmarking success hinges on internal data.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The mania to collect comparative data has eclipsed the rationale behind benchmarking in many cases. There are too many companies chasing data from external sources that have not . . .

Making technology pay.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Every day, companies invest in new technology with the belief that financial benefits will result. And every day, managers' hopes are shattered by the reality of implementations . . .

Maximizing your engineering productivity.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY While most companies realize mat greater engineering productivity can be a major competitive weapon, they have been unable to define and measure it consistently. A study by globa . . .

Delegation: responsibility and authority.(personnel perspective)
I was approached by a very small company that was trying to reorganize itself into a more efficient organization. The request for help came from the office manager, John, who was promoted to his pos . . .

Chasing due dates? There is a better way.(scheduling software can help plan resources and due dates better than traditional meth
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY One reason it's difficult to meet due dates is that they are often set badly, with managers relying on simplistic scheduling methods that do not account for the current workload. . . .

Uncomplicate your organization.(the management systems you choose may be adding unnecessary complexity to your organization)
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The very systems put in place to control costs may be adding unnecessary complexity to your organization. Such complexity is not only unnecessary, its also a potential profitabil . . .

Reusing intellectual assets.(companies must improve their methods for managing and reusing intellectual assets)
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Re-creating knowledge that a company already possesses is a time- and resource-consuming activity. As companies increasingly compete oh the basis of knowledge, they must improve . . .

The economic case for systems integration.(Systems integration is the unifying thread for a company's business processes with it
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Systems integration is the unifying thread that ties together physical, organizational, and business processes of a company with its customers and across its supply chain. SI can . . .

Director of first impressions. (Personnel Perspectives).(company success can be negatively affected by poor first impressions )
An editorial appearing in the Providence Journal Dec. 30, 2002, reads as follows: "There is, in New Bedford, a classy woman we know who works as a receptionist. Affixed in her work space, where on . . .

Solidify startup success.
The call came on a Thursday night. "Could you get to our plant in Indiana as soon as possible?" the executive asked with obvious tension. "We have some critical production issues with a new product . . .

Changing in spite of difficult people.
Any change initiative can be thwarted by disruptive individuals who are resistant to change, the process, or intervention by individuals outside their organization. One way to understand how to deal . . .

Change for the better.(management)(includes summary)
Today, it seems, everyone is striving to be the employer of choice and to create a highly participative environment to maximize profits and operating efficiency. Read enough of the popular press and . . .

The next liability frontier?(precautions and preparations for disasters)(includes summary)
When crisis hits your company -- whether an industrial accident, a natural disaster, or even an act of terrorism -- your immediate instinct will naturally be to mount an immediate response. You will . . .

Can you play your own game? (Personnel Perspectives).
"Play your own game!" Undoubtedly, you've heard this before. My memory of this was jogged recently when I came across it in a little gem of a book called Quantum Golf by Kjell Enhager. While the a . . .

Use an intranet for performance measurement.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY An intranet can be an effective tool for real time performance measurement. When people see visual representations of the information on their desktop every day, they begin to un . . .

Managerial efficiency engineering.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Efficiency isn't just for production workers--it's time managers took a look at their own practices and processes. Managers are tasked with gaining performance through others. If . . .

Does HR planning improve business performance?
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY For exceptional business performance, it's important that human resources becomes a strategic partner in the business. The authors explain how human resources planning is linked . . .

Don't miss the bottom line with productivity increases.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY If you struggle with the cost and implementation of productivity enhancements that don't produce bottom-line benefits, if could be because your thinking is askew. The assumption . . .

Reflections on productivity.(Personnel perspectives)
I read with great interest the November/December 2002 article "Serious About White-Collar Productivity" by Clinton O. Longenecker and Zachary M. Leffakis. The 10 imperatives addressed by these autho . . .