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How Do You Measure MES Implementation Success?
“Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.” – Albert Einstein When tasked with measuring the success of a project, scope, time and cost are three typical forms of measurement. Implementing...
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What to Do about Shadow IT – A Balancing Act
Previously, I wrote a post about Shadow IT that defined what the term is and explained why it persists within the manufacturing and operational space of production. There are many reasons why shadow IT...
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Nanofibres – It Turns out that Size Matters
This week it has been reported that research has found tiny fibres made by the nanotechnology industry are similar in size and shape to the carbon fibres of asbestos and, as a result could cause...
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Tightening the Continuous Improvement Loop
“A picture is worth a thousand words” - Napoleon Bonaparte (source) This adage originated during a simpler time when computers, software and modern manufacturing processes didn’t exist. Yet today it...
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Will Manufacturing Delays Impact iPhone 5 Launch?
It is human nature to try and poke holes or find faults with an industry leader. The benefits of expanding market share are typically offset by greater scrutiny of every action, stumble or potential...
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A Lifecycle Perspective on Product Quality
Quality is one of the most important characteristics of products today. Companies spend a great deal of time and effort in an attempt to build quality products. No discussion by a CEO of a product...
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RIP ~ Rip and Replace. Long Live Process Migration.
Upgrading manufacturing enterprise information management systems just got a lot easier – a viable alternative to “Rip and Replace” has arrived! A better path to success is now gaining traction based...
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Big Data for Operations
Having been in manufacturing for 20+ years, I have to admit I’m a little chagrined at the term “big data” – the reason being that manufactures have long been generating and capturing a huge amount of...
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What is a Three Platform IT Strategy?
Having worked in the real estate, banking, network security and software industries, I can personally attest to the fact that every industry has its own set of terms, expressions and abbreviations....
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3 Reasons Why Innovative Companies Demand Innovative Software Partners
Over the past two decades I have had the opportunity to work with many great people at many great manufacturing companies. As we collect the knowledge that spans our careers, patterns start to become...
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What Is IT Virtualization, and what is Its Role in Manufacturing’s Future?
As someone who has worked in the IT field for many years, one of the challenges I face is trying to understand and explain new technologies as they emerge. One example is IT virtualization. This is...
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3 Steps for a Manufacturer to Accelerate a WMS Go-live
Last month I had the opportunity to experience a unique Go-live with a brand new Aerospace & Defense manufacturing client that needed a new Warehouse Management System (WMS). What made this...
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How Quickly Things Change
A decade or so ago, many American and European manufacturers were trying to figure out how to better compete in a global market. Executive boardroom discussions centered on finding ways to cut...
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5 Ways to Measure Operational Excellence
I find it interesting how phrases get coined and become part of our vocabulary, when in fact, considerable confusion exists around a given term’s definition. These “pie in the sky” phrases sound good,...
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Using Real-time Intelligence to Enhance Lean Manufacturing
When Taiichi Ohno first formulated his concept behind the Toyota Production System – now evolved into Lean manufacturing – he was several decades ahead of his time. As described in his 1988 book,...
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5 ways To Advance Lean Manufacturing with Real-time Intelligence
Previously in a post titled: Using Real-time Intelligence to Enhance Lean Manufacturing, I wrote about how the necessary technology now exists, and is increasingly being used by manufacturers and their...
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Is Risk-Averse Innovation an Oxymoron?
According to a recent IDC webcast I attended, nearly 60 percent of CIOs interviewed claim their top goal is to better align their IT organizations with their business. In other words, these CIOs feel...
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A New Model for Manufacturing Innovation
The Austrian Economist Joseph Schumpeter argued that industries must incessantly revolutionize their economic structure from within. I interpret this statement to mean that manufacturers must...
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Manufacturing-as-a-Service: Are We There Yet? Almost.
When it comes to the cloud, companies are porting just about everything they can into this pay-to-play architecture that enables IT departments to offload applications and even infrastructure while...
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Expanding the Relevance of Lean Manufacturing to Data
Lean Manufacturing principles yield proven results in operations management with direct benefits for customers. The implementation of Lean processes on the manufacturing floor is hardly new, yet it is...
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