Management
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How Can You Adapt to Change During a Weird Time Like This?
- October 14, 2020
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Management, Productivity
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I’ve been asked, during the pandemic-induced recession, how companies can and should adapt to change and keep up with everything that’s going on in the world. How can they pivot? How can they evolve? How can they morph into something that can take advantage of this “new normal.” Believe it or not, there is a
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Win Trust of Your Associates If You Want to Make Technology Changes
- October 7, 2020
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Leadership, Management
I recently read a story on IndustryWeek.com that has elements that should be familiar to anyone in manufacturing management. Years ago in Detroit, the author, John Sobel, and his company installed a system that used AI and machine vision to examine the tailgates for any quality problems. To spot defects, the tailgates had to be
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3 Places to Cut Costs That Won’t Hurt Your Bottom Line
- September 30, 2020
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Business, Management
Companies looking to save money and trim the fat without affecting salaries can cut costs in a few key areas that can help you reduce your overall costs without hurting your bottom line or the people who work for you. There are a few places where you can make cuts to your outside expenses without
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Set a Thief to Catch a Thief: What is So Important About Cybersecurity for a Manufacturer?
- September 16, 2020
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Management, Safety
You don’t think about a manufacturer’s computer operation as being an attractive target for hackers and thieves, but many manufacturers are vulnerable to cyberattacks for any number of reasons because their cybersecurity is practically nonexistent. For one thing, hackers may just see disrupting your operation as something to do. They break into your system for
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You Don’t REALLY Need to Create a Lean Operation, Do You?
- August 12, 2020
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Management
We hear a lot about lean manufacturing and lean principles these days, but it’s kind of a catchword. I’ve never been a big fan of buzzwords because they only complicate something that’s already simple, but I don’t think “lean” necessarily means anything special. For the most part, I’ve found you don’t need to be “lean”
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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
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How Do You Replenish a Decimated Workforce?
- July 22, 2020
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Business, Management
With unemployment up and the economy facing some serious difficulties, many companies have furloughed or laid off their workforce, if only to protect their assets and hope for a recovery when they can bring those associates back. In the meantime, one of two things has happened: 1) the furloughed staff have been receiving unemployment for
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How Did We Handle Racism at Robroy
- June 3, 2020
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Leadership, Management
We never had to deal with too much racism during my time at Robroy, mostly because I made sure people knew that wasn’t allowed. One day, we had an incident where someone had scribbled someone’s name on a bathroom door, and calling them a racial slur. I certainly wasn’t going to stand for that or
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What Will the New Normal Look Like? Can We Return to What Was?
- May 27, 2020
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Management, Safety
People are talking about reopening the country and returning to work as if we can “return to normal.” Except we cannot return to what was. There’s a total shift in our country’s paradigm in working, playing, and socializing, especially because the coronavirus is still contagious and spreading. And unless and until there’s a miraculous discovery
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Your Return to Normalcy May Depend on How You Treated Your Associates
- May 20, 2020
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Leadership, Management
The last few months have been pretty rough, and many companies had to lay off associates or at least furlough them, just so they could collect unemployment for the 2+ months no one was working. But now that we’re reopening the country, the return to normalcy may be a little harder for some companies than