Balancing Unstoppable Production and Benefiting from It

I used to work in a flat glass factory.  The flat glass factory I worked at used float technology.  It starts with a furnace that melts raw materials such as silica (sand), soda ash, dolomite, and limestone.  Molten glass flows from the furnace to a tin bath, a chamber of molten tin, in which theContinue reading “Balancing Unstoppable Production and Benefiting from It”

How Control Charts Can Help Get Things Done Correctly and Consistently

How can enterprises better control their supply chains?  How does one know if the supply chain is under control in the first place? A soy sauce manufacturer bragged about its wonderful customer service numbers.  The manufacturer showed charts that it was delivering 98% of orders on-time and complete.  There was no problem with quality asContinue reading “How Control Charts Can Help Get Things Done Correctly and Consistently”

How Do We Define Quality?

Quality is a strange subject.  It’s strange because people talk about it a lot especially when they have a complaint or an admiration about a product or service.  At the same time, people don’t seem to take it seriously especially when they settle for a cheaper product or service because they don’t have the budgetContinue reading “How Do We Define Quality?”

What is the Right Way to Serve Customers?

A manufacturer of metal parts hires a management consultant to help stimulate sales.  The consultant at once suggests the manufacturer prioritise production of its top twenty (20) best-selling items.  The manufacturer thus makes one month’s worth of stock of each of the twenty (20) top-selling items.  Three (3) months later, the stock is hardly selling. Continue reading “What is the Right Way to Serve Customers?”