Managing Automation - October 2007 - (Page 10)

10-07 MAILBOX Managing Automation Contact Info Managing Automation 5 Penn Plaza, New York, NY 10001 Fax: 212-629-1559 e-mail: dbrousell@ thomaspublishing.com UNTOLD STORIES To the editor, IGNORANCE IS DANGEROUS The media’s obsession with stardom is keeping us dangerously in the dark, warns one reader. Another considers our national priorities in light of wisdom from two leaders in their fields. Managing Automation is interested in hearing your views on manufacturing and the articles and columns in the magazine. Send e-mail to Dbrousell@thomaspublishing .com or mail to 5 Penn Plaza, New York, NY 10010. MA reserves the right to edit letters for clarify and length. You hit the nail on the head when you said that the media is addicted to sensationalism (“Seismic Shifts,” Take 1, July 2007). Besides the two stories you discussed [General Motors and IBM being outpaced in the market by Toyota and Hewlett-Packard, respectively], there is much happening in government and business that we don’t hear about because the media would rather cover Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan. Unfortunately, we don’t find out about many things that the government is doing until they come around and bite us. Alan H. Fleckenstein Solar Turbines our business practices. It’s unfortunate that there are not more clear-seeing visionaries to help guide our nation’s manufacturing superpowers. Doug Lawrence Chromalox, Inc. down their supply chains when it makes sense. Right now, they all believe faster is better. Larry Lapide MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics SLOW & STEADY WINS THE RACE To the editor, DRINK UP To the editor, GUIDING LIGHTS WANTED To the editor, maonline managingautomation.com To read David Brousell’s Take 1 columns, visit: ❑ “Seismic Shifts” www.managingautomation.com /takeone37 ❑ “The Quest for Speed” www.managingautomation.com /takeone38 To read Robert Malone’s Next columns, visit: ❑ “This Thirsty World” www.managingautomation.com /next40 ❑ “National Priorities” www.managingautomation.com /next39 ❑ “Management, Pure & Simple” www.managingautomation .com/next38 I enjoyed Robert Malone’s refresher on W. Edwards Deming’s 14 management points [“Management, Pure & Simple,” Next, June 2007, p. 58]. I agree that these points should be the guiding force in any business model — be it manufacturing, service, or distribution. It’s disheartening to me that those companies that should be setting the benchmark (GM, Ford, and Chrysler) have not learned from their foreign counterparts the value of these simple, yet powerful points. Even as our nation’s automobile industry struggles to stay alive, they continue to do it wrong. I am thankful that I work for an open-minded company and that we can look through untainted glasses and see the value in our people, product, and I thought your column on speed was interesting [“The Quest for Speed,” Take 1, August, www.managing automation.com/takeone38]. I’d suggest that more emphasis should have been placed on the question: “Is faster always better?” (Remember the tortoise versus the hare). As a big believer in planning, I look for a balance between thinking and doing. “Ready, aim, fire” hits the mark more often than “fire, fire, fire” or “ready, ready, aim, aim .” As an industry we’ve been too focused on speed as a best practice. I don’t think it is. I recently wrote an article that postulates that our supply chains are predicated on being fast because we’ve had (until the last couple of years) the luxury of living under a couple of decades of cheap oil. For example, most hightech and fashion apparel manufacturers now fly goods from Asia to get them to market sooner. However, this is energy-inefficient, hence not better, in my mind. Why don’t they plan to make goods several weeks earlier or just have my twenty-something daughters wait a few weeks for their clothing by shipping the goods by ocean? I hope your column will get people thinking about slowing Regarding Robert Malone’s column, “This Thirsty World” [Next, August 2007, www.managingautomation .com/next40], here’s a stopgap measure — immediate relief until permanent solutions can be implemented: There is a filter product available called “Life Straw” that allows the user to drink non-potable water. The cost is minimal and it is available now at www.lifestraw.com. Jack Trout Claremore, OK GET SMART To the editor, Robert Malone’s column “National Priorities” [Next, July 2007, p. 46] brought to mind two of my own beliefs — one from a past business guru and one from a former president of the United States. Concerning statistics, W. Edwards Deming stated, “If you don’t measure and record it, you cannot improve it.” Concerning a child’s education relative to the cost of war, President Jimmy Carter said, “We will not learn to live together in peace by killing each other’s children.” We can and should learn from history. If we are going to “bet the country,” we would be wise to stack the deck with well-educated citizens. Bill Guhde American Spring Wire 10 October 2007 http://www.managingautomation.com/next40 http://www.managingautomation.com/next40 http://www.managingautomation.com/takeone38 http://www.managingautomation.com/takeone38 http://www.lifestraw.com http://www.managingautomation.com http://www.managingautomation.com/takeone37 http://www.managingautomation.com/takeone38 http://www.managingautomation.com/next40 http://www.managingautomation.com/next39 http://www.managingautomation.com/next38

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Managing Automation - October 2007

Contents Take 1 Mailbox New Selling and Fulfillment Product Leads Plan to Transform Sterling Commerce Comtrol Closes Bizarre Chapter Involving Founder New Omron COO Outlines Four-Part Growth Agenda New Mfg. ‘Czar’ Will Have a Full Plate of Issues Lawson Embraces The Trend of Fewer Upgrades Notes Wanted: A Unified Infrastructure Needed: Greater Reliability Special Report: Innovation: Why Are So Many Coming Up Short? Transforamation: Beating the Odds in Global Supply Industries: Metals: Tracking Carbon Footprints Product Scan Advertiser Index Next

Managing Automation - October 2007

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