manufacturing
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Three Ways to Fix Your Supply Chain Right Now
- November 17, 2021
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Business, Management
No CommentsThere are shortages and inflation throughout the country, thanks to a number of supply chain issues. Container ships are stacked up outside different west coast ports, there are labor shortages to unload and reload container ships, and there are shortages of labor to make parts and goods here in the United States. But all is
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How Do You Find Leaders In Your Organization?
- November 3, 2021
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Management, Manufacturing
There’s no one best source for hiring leaders for your organization. Some will insist on only promoting from within, moving people up the corporate structure as the opportunities arise. Others believe you need a fresh pair of eyes in certain leadership roles, so they’ll hire outsiders to come in and lead the organization. I often
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Is There Still a Place for Old-School Manufacturing?
- October 13, 2021
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Innovation, Manufacturing, Productivity
In these days of digital manufacturing and additive manufacturing, there’s still a call for old-school manufacturing with hydraulic presses, forging and extruding metal products, stamping and punching, and so on. There’s still a call for old-school manufacturing because there are some things that you just can’t automate. One reason is that you don’t have scale,
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How Can You Embrace the Green Manufacturing Movement?
- May 19, 2021
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Manufacturing
We’re hearing so much about green manufacturing and sustainable manufacturing, and while they may not be required yet, they’re going to be. Even now, companies are no longer allowed to pollute and dump hazardous waste with the same impunity as they used to, and as more people learn to care about the environment — or
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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 Do We Need More Women in Manufacturing?
- April 7, 2021
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Business
People have a tendency to stereotype and it has always aggravated me when they do. There’s been a long-time myth that manufacturing is only for men, and that women are incapable of doing the kind of hard work involved in a factory. You only have to know the story of how 6 million American women
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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 Have the Challenges of Manufacturing Remained the Same Over the Years?
- February 17, 2021
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Manufacturing
Over the last several years — decades, in fact — certain aspects of manufacturing have stayed the same. I could say the attitudes about change and disruption, but that would be a bit mean. And also untrue. If you’ve paid attention to the automotive manufacturing industry, you already know the massive changes they’ve gone through
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5 Manufacturing Predictions for 2021
- January 6, 2021
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Business, Digital Transformation, Innovation, Manufacturing
Sometimes we’re so close to the trees that we can’t see the forest. We’re so focused on this one tree, not realizing that the forest is growing and changing all around us. I feel that way when I think about all the manufacturing technology changes that have been going on around us in 2020 and
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Manufacturers, Focus on Recovery and Grooming the Workforce for 2021
- December 9, 2020
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Business, Management
I recently read an article in the Hartford (Connecticut) Business Journal (as one does, when you live in Central Texas) recommending that manufacturers should focus on recovery, technology, and grooming the workforce in 2021. While the numbers are specific to Connecticut, they represent a larger trend in the United States. Their big concern in January