materials management

  • The Rise of Resilient Supply Chains: What Every Manufacturer Must Prepare For

    • April 23, 2025
    • Posted by: David Marshall
    • Category: Management, Manufacturing
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    Having ready access to your supplies and raw materials are a sign of a resilient supply chain.

    I’ve been in manufacturing leadership for a long time, and I’ve seen some amazing technological advances. Gains in efficiency, gains in productivity, an increase in safety and sustainability — they all came from tightly-tuned (tightly-wound?) supply chains. For decades, the goal has been to adopt the Japanese method of “lean manufacturing” and reduce redundancy, minimize

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  • Does the Office Make the Person, or Does the Person Make the Office?

    • June 1, 2017
    • Posted by: David Marshall
    • Category: Management, Manufacturing
    No Comments
    A good materials handling person can make all the difference in the world to your factory.

    There’s a leadership problem in this country that often has to do with people being promoted because of their technical expertise and not their leadership qualities or people skills. They assume they’re a leader simply because their job title says Manager or Director, only to find that no one respects them. I think of this

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