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Bill Waddell
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Movin' On Up
by BILL WADDELL Seven and a half years after scribbling my first post on Evolving Excellence I'm moving - whether I'm moving on, moving up or just moving over remains to be seen, I suppose - but moving I am.... Continue reading
Posted Jan 21, 2013 at Evolving Excellence
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The Limits of Imitating Toyota
by BILL WADDELL I recently received an email from a guy challenging the legitimacy of organizing into value streams and lean accounting. The linchpin of his argument: "I can't find anything saying Toyota has done any of that". This seems... Continue reading
Posted Jan 18, 2013 at Evolving Excellence
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Losing Before the Game Even Begins
by BILL WADDELL All over the country - all over the world, for that matter - managers are confronting year end surprises from annual inventory counts. Strenuous efforts to reach profit goals have been undone by inventory write-offs they never... Continue reading
Posted Jan 10, 2013 at Evolving Excellence
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Shareholders versus Stakeholders
by BILL WADDELL The horrible shootings in Connecticut have set off another round of debates over the fundamental goals of a business - pitting financial gain against social responsibility. The core principles of lean - including respect for all of... Continue reading
Posted Jan 8, 2013 at Evolving Excellence
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Customer Driven Management
by BILL WADDELL The good folks over at Bloomberg/Business Week wrote about Cisco's failure to make good on their big investment in LinkSys. Cisco makes big, complicated gear to manage big complicated computer networks. LinkSys makes basic, cheap wireless routers... Continue reading
Posted Dec 28, 2012 at Evolving Excellence
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Scrooge or Fezziwig?
Posted Dec 18, 2012 at Evolving Excellence
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Silly Lady! Long Lead Times are for Losers
by BILL WADDELL Interesting article on the Wall Street Journal's site about the challenges facing Marie Robinson - the Toys R Us head of their supply chain. In a growing on line selling world the big issue is the role... Continue reading
Posted Dec 14, 2012 at Evolving Excellence
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Like Teenagers Discovering Sex
by BILL WADDELL I'm sure the European explorers of old were startled to find the Americas squarely in the middle of the path heading west from Europe to Asia. The millions of aboriginal people already living in the Americas knew... Continue reading
Posted Dec 13, 2012 at Evolving Excellence
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Elephants Make Lousy Supply Chain Models
by BILL WADDELL The folks at The Christian Science Monitor wrote about some head-shakingly bad experiences with on line shopping the other day: "First up is Kohl's, which is notoriously guilty of slow processing; according to our own staff experiences,... Continue reading
Posted Dec 10, 2012 at Evolving Excellence
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iPads and Chia Pets
by BILL WADDELL By now I am sure just about everyone has read that Apple's Tim Cook has announced that Apple will start making some computers in the United States. Lots of blather about the USA not having the engineering... Continue reading
Posted Dec 7, 2012 at Evolving Excellence
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So Many Lessons, So Little Time
Posted Dec 6, 2012 at Evolving Excellence
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Who Are We Kidding?
Posted Dec 1, 2012 at Evolving Excellence
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Executives to the Rescue
by BILL WADDELL Once there was a manufacturing executive who was concerned about the inaccurate financial information he was getting, so he moved his desk up to the accounting department so he could figure out what was going on. Soon... Continue reading
Posted Nov 29, 2012 at Evolving Excellence
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Random Notes
by BILL WADDELL An interesting article over at Industry Week: Lean's High Tech Makeover - Toyota matches its Toyota Production System with advanced automation tools to create a high tech ballet of lean manufacturing This is the article I mentioned... Continue reading
Posted Nov 27, 2012 at Evolving Excellence
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Think for Yourself
by BILL WADDELL The good folks at McKinsey have put out a massive report called "Manufacturing the Future: The Next Era of Global Growth and Innovation". The pdf version runs to 184 pages and everyone serious about manufacturing should read... Continue reading
Posted Nov 21, 2012 at Evolving Excellence
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The Anatomy of A Twinkie
Posted Nov 19, 2012 at Evolving Excellence
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Do You Have Binders Full of Women?
by BILL WADDELL I have two two clients that are both lean and successful, but with very different cultures. Both have female dominated factory floors - I don't know the numbers but easily 2/3 of the front line folks are... Continue reading
Posted Nov 14, 2012 at Evolving Excellence
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Real Manufacturers Are From Mars Everyone Else is From Venus
by BILL WADDELL It seems more and more apparent that the real world of legitimate manufacturing is completely unknown and unappreciated by just about everyone outside of it. Terry Gau - chairman of Foxconn - says "he did not believe... Continue reading
Posted Nov 9, 2012 at Evolving Excellence
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What Are You Measuring
by BILL WADDELL The economic theory of lean is universal - pretty much the same whether it is applied to the company, or to an individual or to the country. Resources - human resources in terms of hours and natural... Continue reading
Posted Oct 31, 2012 at Evolving Excellence
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Sowing the Seeds of Future Demise
Posted Oct 29, 2012 at Evolving Excellence
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Lean and Technology
Posted Oct 25, 2012 at Evolving Excellence
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Making Money From Philosophy
by BILL WADDELL Michael McPhee: "Can you make money from philosophy?" Max Dugan: "Oh yeah ... if you have the right one!" Hermann Simon, a German academic, author, consultant and buddy of the late Peter Drucker has something of an... Continue reading
Posted Oct 22, 2012 at Evolving Excellence
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It's Not Coming Back?
Posted Oct 18, 2012 at Evolving Excellence
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Mathematical Fiction
by BILL WADDELL Normally I would agree with someone who observes that criticizing without offering an alternative is just cynicism and not very helpful. Such an observation was implied to my recent post on the absurdity of the unemployment figures:... Continue reading
Posted Oct 17, 2012 at Evolving Excellence
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Obesity Leads to Cost Disease
by BILL WADDELL When the local school district is in financial trouble the routine message to the community is that the tax levy must be passed or they will be forced to discontinue the football team, the marching band, cancel... Continue reading
Posted Oct 9, 2012 at Evolving Excellence
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