Management
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Stay Focused on Employee Health & Safety
- June 16, 2021
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Management, Safety
No CommentsAs a manufacturing manager, the worst words you can hear are “workplace injury.” Manufacturing is not necessarily a safe job, and people can get hurt just doing their work. Even with all the employee health and safety training, policies, and personal protective equipment, people can still get hurt on the job. That creates a lot
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Can you Require Employees to Get the COVID Vaccine?
- May 26, 2021
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Management, Safety
The COVID vaccine is in full swing and is fully available in every state in the U.S., but there are still plenty of people who are “vaccine hesitant” or are unsure whether they should get it or not. For manufacturers and businesses where remote work isn’t possible, the question is whether a company can require
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A Person Who Feels Appreciated Will Do More Than What Is Expected
- May 12, 2021
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Management, Productivity
If you ever want to get extra work and effort out of someone, plus earn their loyalty and dedication, you should never do it through fear, intimidation, or even monetary reward. (Although that last one can be effective for a short while. And that’s as a bonus for their work, not their regular salary.) The
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The Importance of Cross-training and Succession Planning in the Days of COVID
- May 5, 2021
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Leadership, Management
When companies are running short of employees and can’t find people to fill the vacancies they do have, they run into all kinds of problems. In the everyday world, we can see it in fast food restaurants that can’t find enough people to fill their openings. They’re closing their stores an extra day per week
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Three Lessons Manufacturers Should Have Learned from the Pandemic
- April 28, 2021
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Management, Manufacturing
The COVID-19 pandemic certainly brought the world to a crashing halt, especially manufacturers. Companies that continued working were either considered essential manufacturers or they had pivoted and were making things like ventilators. We weren’t able to start working from home or working remotely. We had to be onsite, working in wide-open spaces, and trying to
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Why You Need to Hire Outside Experts
- April 14, 2021
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Management, Safety
When I got involved with Robroy back in 1995, they had many environmental problems. They had just gotten out of the galvanizing business, which has an awful lot of hazardous waste to deal with. It’s an environmental nightmare. I had (and still have) zero experience in environmental matters and environmental rules change on a minute-to-minute
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A Crisis Really Determines What Kind of Leader You Are
- March 24, 2021
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Leadership, Management
“In a crisis, don’t hide behind anything or anybody. They’re going to find you anyway.” — Bear Bryant, former Alabama football coach. The way you handle a crisis shows what kind of leader you are. Are you like many other executives who are afraid and hide in their office? Do you send out your PR
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Quality is a Function of Attention to Detail
- March 17, 2021
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Leadership, Management
How do you drive quality in an organization? If you believe in the old business adage that a fish stinks from the head down, then you know where it has to start. It starts with your vision, your philosophy, and your commitment to quality. It requires that you make it a priority and then drive
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How Do You Deal With Supply Shortages? How Can You Prevent Them?
- March 10, 2021
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Management, Manufacturing
Here’s a scenario. Let’s say you’re expecting a shipment of needed parts in order to fill an order of your own. Maybe you’ve got a customer who’s waiting on you, or you’ve got a big installation that you’re working on. Your supplier calls you and says, “I’m sorry, we’re out of this part you need
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How Do You Maintain the Right Inventory Levels Without Resorting to Just-In-Time or Bulk Ordering?
- February 24, 2021
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Management, Manufacturing
The story of just-in-time inventory is one used to frighten young manufacturing operations managers: automotive manufacturers are so tight on their just-in-time manufacturing require their vendors to deliver their shipments at a specific minute or else they’ll be fined thousands of dollars for every minute of delay. Operations managers hear this and begin considering all