News website headlines, such as those on msnbc.com today, battle each other for my attention. While I'm fascinated by the six-year-old spelling prodigy Lori Ann Madison, the youngest speller ever in the National Spelling Bee, reading her story had to wait until I read the one under the headline "China slowdown threatens US factory revival." The article by Economics Reporter John W. Schoen describes a catch 22—what looks like it could be a panacea for U.S. manufacturing job loss may actually exacerbate our economic woes. (more...)
Posts Tagged ‘global economy’
Shortening the order-to-cash cycle
March 20th, 2012
By: Tim Heston
By: Tim Heston
Today I talked with Ricky Loar, plant manager at Grove City, Ohio-based Horton Emergency Vehicles, a made-to-order ambulance manufacturer that has undergone a lean transformation during the past 18 months. The shop used to resemble a kind of large custom garage--or, more precisely, a collection of garages that each had its own work practices.
Assemblers would order rough versions of various sheet metal components from the company’s internal fabrication department, which took a week to return that order. Technicians would start assembly, receive those components piecemeal, and manually cut holes and weld aluminum panels and other sheet metal and tubular components during the assembly process. From the initial order to final delivery, the entire order-to-cash cycle would be well more than 100 days.
Today, the company has it down to 68 days. And once an order is finalized and components are ready, plant workers can churn out about two trucks a week. When I talked with Loar today, he was getting ready for a dealer training session. The company has improved its manufacturing process; now it’s tackling front-office operations, including sales, order entry, engineering, purchasing, and customer service. The company literally has torn down walls between departments. When everyone collaborates, managers expect that order-to-cash cycle to shrink even more.
Some of Horton’s customers are private health systems, but some are government municipalities, which aren’t exactly thriving right now. But you wouldn’t know it at Horton. The made-to-order manufacturer is thriving in a market that’s struggling.
Just before talking to Loar, though, this Washington Post article appeared on my news feed. Apparently, U.S. manufacturing productivity gains may not be so impressive after all. In fact, those gains may have come thanks to global outsourcing. A part is made overseas then placed into an engineered assembly here; and that low-cost outsourced part has wound its way into the computations of government statisticians.
You can’t manufacture human rights
February 22nd, 2011
By: Tim Heston
By: Tim Heston
The news from North Africa and the Middle East has been truly amazing lately. It’s a little scary for business owners and everyone else who depends on oil (in other words, nearly everybody). Recent unrest in oil-rich Libya has sent oil prices skyward. But over the long term, expensive oil may be a small price to pay.
Nobody knows what kind of change is happening; all that’s certain is that change has come and likely will continue. The ideas behind the gathering, singing, shouting, and violence are contagious: Wanting basic human rights shouldn’t be too much to ask. North African countries are swept up in it. News of at least some unrest has also trickled out of China.
