Each month new articles, book reviews, and other content are added to the Superfactory website. The new content is featured in the monthly e-newsletter which goes out to 50,000 subscribers worldwide, and we will also post a monthly heads-up on this blog.
New content in November includes:
The featured article is from regular contributor Bob Emiliani and is titled Free Money, Free Love. The following is a brief excerpt, and you can read the entire article here.
Every Lean advocate is very enthusiastic about their work. But individual enthusiasm
without extensive, high-level coordinated group activities to promote Lean management
in policy circles will relegate Lean to a niche practice. We can do better than that.
What’s in a name?
In October 2007, the Lean Enterprise Institute held a celebration in
Cambridge, Massachusetts, to commemorate its 10th anniversary. Jim
Womack spoke at the beginning of the event and offered a wonderful
retrospective of LEI’s beginnings, accomplishments, and future
direction, which was to move beyond Lean tools and start to focus on
Lean management (finally!). He also shared his regrets over the name
“Lean,” saying that it was not a good name in hindsight but it is the
name we have and should make the best of it. To me, he sounded nearly
apologetic.While Jim’s honesty was admirable, he should not have expressed any
regret over the name “Lean.” Why? The long-view of history tells us
that no matter what you call progressive management, executives will
resist it or misinterpret and misapply it.
The featured book this month is Compression by Robert "Doc" Hall. The following is a brief summary, click here for more information.
Strategic leaders of private and public organizations in the 21st
century are faced with unprecedented challenges. The principles and
practices that helped them compete and grow in the past, no longer
work. Many of the problems are beyond complicated. They are problems
generated by interlinked systems that prevent us from clearly defining
the root cause. Their resolution requires reflection on the assumptions
of the past and counter intuitive thinking.Today, with
Compression, Doc gives us a new perspective on the challenges of the
21st century. He gives strategic leaders a way to put their arms around
the complex issues facing their companies, markets, and communities.
Gemba Academy has added a Quick Changeover (SMED) course to their Lean Package. Take a look at how Gemba Academy is revolutionizing online training, on demand, in High Definition HD quality.
We continually update the other major sections of the website, including:
- PowerPoint Presentations: Over 50 downloadable PowerPoint presentations on lean manufacturing, quality, enterprise, and safety concepts.
- Factory Toolbox: Almost 300 downloadable forms, procedure templates, assessments, and tools to help you not reinvent the wheel.
- Events Calendar: a listing of lean excellence seminars, workshops, training, and conferences worldwide
- Topic Information: Summaries and resources on over 40 enterprise excellence topics.
- Virtual Factory Tours: Web and streaming video tours of over 100 factories.
For all you LinkedIn junkies, we have created a LinkedIn group for Superfactory, which now has over 3,500 members. Join the group to
network with other Superfactory enthusiasts and to show our logo on your profile. If you haven't explored LinkedIn, check it out to see why over 17 million professionals use it for networking.
We are always looking for new articles and other content. Contact us via the Superfactory website if you would like to contribute to our knowledge base.