Manufacturing
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How to Use Digital Transformation and Evolution In Your Manufacturing Company
- March 27, 2019
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Digital Transformation, Manufacturing
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A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of serving on a panel — Digital Transformation and Plastics Manufacturing — at the Plastics Executive Conference in Naples, Florida. The panel was moderated by my good friend, Nanette Gregory, senior partner at NSG Consulting, and I was joined by Rajiv Menon, founder of Informulate; Gary Stein,
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Panel Discussion: Digital Transformation and Plastics Manufacturing
- March 20, 2019
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Digital Transformation, Leadership, Manufacturing
A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of serving on a panel at the Plastics Executive Conference in Naples, Florida. The panel was entitled Digital Transformation and Plastics Manufacturing, and it was moderated by my good friend, Nanette Gregory, senior partner at NSG Consulting. I was joined by Rajiv Menon, founder of Informulate; Gary
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Making a Case for Technology Skill Schools
- March 13, 2019
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Management, Manufacturing
In Indiana, there’s a rather unusual vocational school called Driver Solutions, a truck driving school where students learn how to properly drive a tractor-trailer rig in three weeks. Students who qualify, and can pass the different drug and health tests, will not only get a job immediately after they graduate, their schooling is paid for.
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Lessons Learned During a Factory Refurbishment
- January 23, 2019
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Innovation, Manufacturing
When we redesigned and refurbished an old fiberglass liner factory, one of my big concerns was worker safety. We had seen a lot of injuries in the plant over the years, and it was not a clean factory to begin with. We wanted something that was cleaner, could operate with fewer associates, and had more
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Why is Automation So Important?
- January 16, 2019
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Manufacturing
As artificial intelligence and machine learning grows by leaps and bounds, and the field of robotics is light years ahead of where it was just ten years ago, industrial automation is becoming a regular part of the manufacturing process, as more companies are embracing a machine-based future. The biggest reason for this sea change is
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What Do You Need on Your Measurement Dashboard?
- January 9, 2019
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Manufacturing, Measurement
I’ve long been a proponent of measuring a company’s efficiency by measuring each employee’s productivity, output, and even their costs. Whether it’s an associate on the floor, an associate in the Accounts Receivable office, or even the President and COO of the entire company, you have to know how well the company is performing in
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What are Some Common Safety Issues in Manufacturing?
- December 26, 2018
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Manufacturing, Safety
For the most part, safety is usually a function of paying attention to your surroundings and avoiding situations that can cause you a problem, like failing to wear your personal protective equipment, or running across a hydraulic-powered conveyor line. These safety violations fall more on the “benign” end of the spectrum, where people didn’t mean
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An Unusual Approach to Manufacturing Safety
- December 19, 2018
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Manufacturing, Safety
In a typical manufacturing operation, safety policies are always the responsibility for management to create and for the associates to follow. But I thought that was always backwards: management didn’t have to worry about safety, since they weren’t actually operating the machinery, and the associates knew better about what would actually work and what was
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Innovation: Make Something When You Don’t Have the Equipment
- November 21, 2018
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Innovation, Manufacturing
Sometimes I think we’re spoiled in this country (and I include myself in that sweeping generalization). For many companies, the solution to a problem is to throw money at it. Years ago, we had a plant that was faced with frequent absenteeism and drug test failures, a plant that created a lot of excess pollution
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The Secret to Managing Discipline in a Large Business Setting
- October 10, 2018
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Manufacturing, Measurement, Productivity
Managing discipline in a large company starts with the hiring process. I’ve always believed in hiring slow and firing fast. But I also had a rule that nobody could be fired without my permission. What that meant was any issue that looked like it could end in termination would elevate to me so a manager