Production

Consumers' tastes are changing fast, but one things remains: they value quality, value, and inspiration in their products.

The regularity of the growth cycles of living organisms has always fascinated thoughtful he observers regularity and of has the invited growth a cycles variety of living attempts to apply the same principles—of a predictable sequence of rapid growth followed by maturation, decline, and death—to companies and selected industries. One such concept, known as the […]

The past several years have witnessed a growing awareness among American managers of the central importance to competitive success of first-rate competence in the work of production. At the top of many corporate agendas now rests the determination to boost productivity, product quality, and new product innovation. This is all to the good. What managers […]

Years ago, while visiting friends in the United States, I happened to see the classic children’s film The Wizard of Oz. Near the end, Dorothy at last appears before the all-powerful wizard—a terrifying image of smoke and light. Only when her dog, Toto, tugs at a curtain over to one side does she see a […]

American industry is beginning to put its manufacturing house in order. Companies building high-volume standardized products like copiers, appliances, and automobiles are learning from their foreign rivals and emulating their commitment to ongoing product and process innovation. But one important segment of U.S. industry—job shop manufacturers—continues to postpone needed reforms. Many of these companies have […]

The story of whether robots are eating our jobs is an important one. But who's telling it correctly?

There are opportunities and challenges.

How Chinese investment is reshaping Africa

How the industry is changing in the U.S., China, and Africa.

Demand and supply are both shifting.

A new study shows that global trade doesn’t always mean poor working conditions.

It's not straightforward, but technology will get you there.

Outdated cost accounting and management control systems are an obstacle to the lasting success of new manufacturing technologies and procedures. They...

In the early 1980s, visitors on an hour-long tour of a factory headed by Eugene Goodson reported surprisingly accurate details about the plant, its technology,...

Even in this contentious election year, all sides agree on one issue: The loss of American manufacturing jobs over the past decade has been a disaster for the U.S. economy. It would be unrealistic to imagine a return to low-value-add, low-skill, low-wage production in the commodity industries that employed millions of Americans a century ago. […]

The authors have seen North American and European companies make improvements by implementing lean production techniques. The authors now argue that linking...

To reduce high manufacturing overhead, companies should look beyond their direct labor and materials costs to the costs of transactions. These transactions...

The federal government can and should play a much bigger role in helping American companies regain the lead in manufacturing. We need to invest a commensurate amount of federal R&D dollars in advanced manufacturing technologies as we do in other areas of science, technology, and engineering. The last administration created an assistant secretary for manufacturing […]

Making the United States an even more attractive location for factories and investments is critical for the health of our nation. More domestic factories would help create more balanced trade flows and a more stable global economy. But company decisions on what and where to place production facilities, while influenced by many factors, ultimately depend […]

It's the end of the quarter, and the sales staff at Exceso Corp. is scrambling to meet CEO R. Foley Vinton's overheated 9% sales target. Sure, the sales...