Manufacturing
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Watch Out for Seasonal Silliness Around the Holiday
- November 4, 2024
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Leadership, Manufacturing
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Down in Texas, just like everywhere else in the United States, there are quite a few holidays that bring the silliness out in people — reasons to drink, celebrate with friends, set off fireworks, and generally get a little rowdy and obnoxious. While Christmas may be called the “silly season,” every manager knows he or
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Building a Winning Team by Hiring for Skills, Not Education
- September 11, 2024
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Business, Manufacturing
When you’re building a winning team, it’s important that you hire people for their knowledge and smarts, not their education and degrees. Too often, businesses require certain educational experiences that either don’t make any sense or mean you miss out on some prime candidates. If I had to choose between hiring a 22-year-old with a
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The Benefits of a Lean Manufacturing System
- September 4, 2024
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Leadership, Management, Manufacturing
Lean manufacturing is a buzzword that gets used a lot, but what does it really mean and why should you care? Lean manufacturing is about eliminating waste and removing superfluous processes. It means having the ideal number of associates, trimming the fat, and making sure that everyone can get the most amount of work done
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Advanced Strategies for Creating a Lean Manufacturing System
- July 24, 2024
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Digital Transformation, Innovation, Manufacturing
You’re no doubt already familiar with lean manufacturing, as it’s now one of the most common manufacturing philosophies today. And even if you haven’t, you’ve heard about its core principles: reducing waste, improving efficiency, and maximizing your value to the customers. But lean is more than just eliminating waste or Jack Sprat’s wife’s dietary restrictions.
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Creating a Sustainable Manufacturing Operation
- July 17, 2024
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Innovation, Manufacturing
Sustainable manufacturing is no longer a buzzword, it’s a business imperative. It’s about balancing environmental responsibility, economic viability, and social equity. It means fulfilling your fiduciary responsibilities to your associates and your customers. It means avoiding harming the environment and earning expensive and painful fines and penalties. And it means being good corporate and business
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How Modern Leadership Creates a High-Performance Manufacturing Team
- June 19, 2024
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Leadership, Manufacturing
Finding the ideal employees in any organization can be tough. It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in, the customers you serve, the work you do, or the jobs you’re hiring for. It’s tough finding quality employees. But too many employers try to find exactly the right employee who has all the right skills and can
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The Role of Safety Audits in Preventing Workplace Accidents
- May 8, 2024
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Business, Manufacturing, Safety
I’m going to say something that’s going to upset some people. There should be no safety audits in a factory setting. Why is that? Because safety audits are like restaurant inspections. Everyone who has ever worked in a restaurant knows the dirty little secret: when you know a health inspector is showing up, everyone makes
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The 5 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) Every Manufacturer Should Measure
- April 17, 2024
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Management, Manufacturing, Productivity
Every manufacturer keeps track of their output and how many units they’re making and selling each month. (At least I hope they are! I’ve seen some operations where that’s a valid question.) But not every manufacturer measures the same KPIs, but they’re absolutely critical to keep track of on a monthly, weekly, or even daily
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How Do You Plan for a Disaster or Crisis?
- March 13, 2024
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Leadership, Management, Manufacturing, Safety
Planning for a disaster for your business is never fun, and it can even be a little depressing. That’s because planning for a disaster or crisis is basically dreaming up all the scenarios that can befall your business and then imagining the worst-case scenario. Then you have to come up with all the things that
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How Can You Address the Skills Gap and Workforce Development?
- February 28, 2024
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Management, Manufacturing
It’s getting harder and harder to find skilled workers for the manufacturing segment. Too many recruiting strategies are based on hiring people away from other companies, keeping them for a couple of years, only to have someone else hire them away from you. If you want to address the skills gap and improve your workforce