Innovation
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Increasing Productivity Doesn’t Always Mean Working Harder
- June 14, 2023
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Innovation, Management, Manufacturing, Productivity
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As much as I hate to say it, the key to increased productivity really is “work smarter, not harder.” But it’s more than just finding little tricks and hacks that help people do their job much faster, or having people start working a little faster than they were before. If you really want to increase
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What are the First Steps a Manufacturer Should Take to Modernize?
- October 20, 2021
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Digital Transformation, Innovation, Manufacturing
Last week, I talked about how there’s still a need for old-school manufacturing, but that doesn’t mean that there will always be a need. Some of you old-school manufacturers need to modernize and update your systems. If you’re still running labor-intensive processes and you’re struggling to find labor just to meet your orders, then maybe
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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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Be Humble Enough to Learn from Everyone
- July 7, 2021
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Innovation, Leadership, Management
Managers and executives often suffer from the belief (the conceit?) that they should have all the answers, should know how to do everything, and should be the smartest person in the room. The problem is they become bottlenecks, assume they’re the only ones with all the answers, and will often require associates to carry out
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Should Manufacturers Use Blockchain
- January 27, 2021
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Digital Transformation, Innovation, Manufacturing
You’re no doubt hearing more and more about blockchain and how it’s being used in new and different applications. For one thing, you’re probably hearing more about Bitcoin, and you may even know that it operates on the blockchain principles. But what is blockchain? Is it important? Can manufacturers use it? Should we use it?
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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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Invest In Your Associates to Help Your Company Thrive
- October 21, 2020
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Innovation, Leadership, Productivity
A couple of weeks ago, I talked about how you can win your associates’ loyalty by involving them in the decision-making process when it comes to new technology and equipment. Another way you can invest in your associates is to give them an opportunity to participate in the business. For example, at Robroy, I instituted
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How Can Manufacturers Achieve Zero Waste? Does It Even Make Sense?
- September 23, 2020
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Innovation, Manufacturing
Have you heard about manufacturers that have achieved Zero Waste? That means they have absolutely zero garbage leaving their plants. For instance, the Subaru plant in Lafayette, Indiana is certified Zero Waste. They recycle everything they can, and they reuse many of their packing materials by sending them back to their Japanese suppliers for refills.
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How Can You Handle Rush Orders? (Small Batch Sizes)
- September 9, 2020
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Digital Transformation, Innovation
It doesn’t matter how well you plan, all it takes is one bad inventory count or runaway forklift for a customer to have a rush order for a small number of parts, say 250 brackets. It’s something you don’t make that often and you have to retool and set up for that order which makes
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Why You Should Keep Marketing in an Economic Downturn
- August 5, 2020
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Business, Innovation, Management
One of the biggest mistakes executives make during an economic downturn is to make cuts to their sales and marketing staff. Those are the two departments that actually make the money that your company runs on, which means there are fewer people helping you make money, which means you make less money. Sales have to