Articles of Interest Archives
Below you'll find an assortment of archived TBM articles.
Heros of U.S. Manufacturing
Fortune, Mar 19,2006
America remains the world’s top industrial power with the help of innovators like these. Their contributions include exquisitely machined parts, nimble new software, and refinements in the art of selecting the optimum production tempo.
The Truth Behind Lean Success: It's Messy
Pat Panchak, Target Magazine, Oct 01,2009
Stan A. Askren, chairman, president, and CEO of HNI Corporation, says personal involvement and hard work is needed to fully understand, implement, and sustain lean.
Lean Manufacturing Helps Companies Survive Recession
Paul Davidson, USA Today, Nov 02,2009
WILLIAMSPORT, Md. — A couple of years ago, Sealy, the world's top mattress maker, pieced together beds in a sort of stutter step. Today, it's a ballet...
Six Sigma is Out. Extreme Lean Manufacturing is In
Pete Engardio, BusinessWeek, Mar 12,2009
U.S. companies from food makers to heavy industry to banks are cutting costs by gearing output precisely to demand. When surgical device maker ConMed decided in 2007 to streamline production, executives explored the usual options...
Inbound Transportation and Receiving: Making Material Flow Starts at the Source
Ken Koenemann, Industry Week Online, Nov 10,2008
Optimizing the flow of incoming materials requires a value chain approach that evaluates the tradeoffs between truckload vs. less-than-truckload and multiple deliveries vs. consolidated milk runs...
The Inside View
Ken Hurst, Works Management, Jul 30,2008
What have consultants ever done for you? That's the question Ken Hurst puts to a number of manufacturers...
The Power of LeanSigma
Modern Machine Tools, Apr 30,2008
Lean sigma is a business strategy that relentlessly pursues the reduction of lead time and the absence of variation throughout the value chain, ensuring Six Sigma process capabilities in business and manufacturing processes...
A Passion for Success
Brian Wall, Works Management, Apr 17,2008
TBM Consulting Group's Richard Holland believes the Best Factory Awards capture the excitement and passion surrounding manufacturing improvements...
Going offshore? Look before you Leap
Supply Chain Quarterly, Jan 15,2008
Companies looking to source overseas because of cheap labor may be in for some costly surprises...
Plan for Success through Policy Deployment
Manufacturing.net, Jan 11,2008
Although many companies understand the need for planning, doing so is perceived as more difficult than dealing with the day-to-day operational improvements, and planning often goes undone or poorly done. And yet, if a company wants to truly transform, its management team must learn to plan for the future. A lean company does this planning through policy deployment...
Lean Drives Productivity Gains and Value Chain Improvement
Industry Week Online, Nov 16,2007
New study reports productivity gains in past year is directly due to lean. The results of TBM's fifth annual "Multinational Manufacturing Pulse" show continued gains in productivity primarily due to Lean, with respondents identifying the greatest opportunity...
Accounting for Lean Tastes
Jill Jusko, Industry Week Magazine, Sep 01,2007
Manufacturers are showing growing support for lean accounting, which proponents say more accurately reflects activities of a lean organization...
A World Gone Green: IE Methods Can Curb Global Warming Effects
Doug Kiss, Industrial Engineer, Sep 01,2007
Twenty years ago, global warming was as real as Santa Claus to many people...
Driving Towards Sustainable Change
Railway Strategies, Jul 17,2007
The recent Railways Strategies Supply Chain Conference was a big success for both the organizer and delegates...
Driving Change
Kristy J. O'Hara, Smart Business Atlanta, Jul 01,2007
How Michael Gerster reinvigorated WIKA Instrument to create value for customers...
Just-in-Time Remains Justifiable
Jonathan Katz, Industry Week Magazine, Jun 01,2007
Worried about how bird flu, hurricanes or civil unrest could impact a lean supply chain? Despite such inherent risks, benefits of just-in-time manufacturing may still be too much to pass up...
Nissan Opens Testing Plant, Guarantees Satisfaction
Yuri Kageyma, The Associated Press, May 29,2007
Zama, Japan - Like any auto plant, robots are whirring, swinging huge mechanical arms...
US to Lose Role as Top Manufacturer
Peter Marsh, Financial Times, May 24,2007
China will gradually take over the role of the US as the world's largest manufacturer but will do this only by 2020...
A Change for the Better: Alstom and TBM Consulting are Showing how Kaizen Thinking Can Bring Significant Benefits to the Rail Industry
Steven Clarksmith, Steve Hadfield and Richard Holland, Railway Strategies, May 01,2007
Alstom's Steven Clarksmith and Steve Hadfield and TBM Consulting's Richard Holland explain how Kaizen thinking is bringing significant benefits to the rail industry...
Toyota Sales Surge a Big Plus for U.S. Automaking
Doron Levin, Bloomberg.com, Apr 26,2007
The report that Toyota Motor Corp., Japan's biggest automaker, surpassed No. 1 General Motors Corp. in worldwide sales during the first quarter shouldn't be viewed as evidence of U.S. industrial decline...
No Need for Suppliers to Fear Off-Shoring
Mike Herr, Aerotec, Mar 01,2007
Auto Merger at End of the Road?
John O'Dell, Los Angeles Times, Feb 15,2007
DaimlerChrysler may consider parting ways with its U.S. unit...
Lean/Six Sigma: The Quest for Efficiency in Manufacturing
by Oracle, in cooperation with the Economist Intelligence Unit, Reliable Plant, Feb 01,2007
Management slogans often boil down to little more than platitudes in slick consultancy packages...
Clear View of the Waste-Line
Brian Wall, Works Management, Jan 01,2007
There is little doubt that many businesses carry an unnecessary burden of waste. In today's ultra-harsh economic environment, lean can eliminate this waste, making all the difference between being a success and not 'being' at all, as Brian Wall reports...
Lean Champions
Barbara Axelson, The Manufacturer, Jan 01,2007
Who are the lean champions...
Scholle Partners with TBM for Lean Strategy
Michael Edwards, Food Magazine, Jul 27,2009
Everyone in the food business knows the challenge of satisfying changing tastes. Food grows slowly, but consumer tastes change quickly. Few people over the age of 40 grew up with radicchio, for instance, or Viognier. Now these varieties are commonplace...
The Right Foundations: Alstom's Lean Train Still on Track
Railway Strategies, May 01,2009
After eight years the lean transformation taking place in Alstom is on track and firmly on the rails with lean partner TBM Consulting Group. Its ongoing focus on lean has resulted in some great achievements and the company continues to work hard at improve...
Cashing In: How to Quickly Free Up Working Capital in Tight Times
Ken Koenemann, Industry Week Online, Apr 15,2009
A laser-focused approach to reducing inventory and streamlining accounts receivable can permanently reduce working capital requirements within a few months without delaying supplier payments or alienating customers...
The ABC's of Good Food Manufacturing
David Beal, Food Safety Magazine, Aug 01,2009
The quality revolution, sparked by Toyota and its ability to produce more reliable cars, has now turned its face to the food industry. Think about it - 30 years ago, a story about melamine-contaminated infant formula supplies in China would never have made...
