costs
I’m Nobody Special, But I’m Speaking Anyway
Yes, my face is on the front cover of the brochure (PDF Download). But, little does the audience know that that picture (I’m the second, from the left, but better viewed in the PDF brochure) was taken while I was sitting on a fake sheep during a family trip to the animal farm at Thanksgiving Point in Utah. I cropped just my face for submission to the event organizers, but the "real" picture is of me, at the insistence of my kids, sitting on a fake sheep.
Yes, my face is on the front cover of the brochure (PDF Download). But, little does the audience know that that picture (I’m the second, from the left, but better viewed in the PDF brochure) was taken while I was sitting on a fake sheep during a family trip to the animal farm at Thanksgiving Point in Utah. I cropped just my face for submission to the event organizers, but the "real" picture is of me, at the insistence of my kids, sitting on a fake sheep.
Raising Dust, Vision, and Business Problems
In the Treatise on Principles Concerning Human Knowledge, published in 1685, George Berkeley said: We have first raised the dust, and then we complain that we cannot see. Berkeley was describing something entirely different, but his comment is, I believe, an accurate indictment of most, or all, business problems that we face.
Readers — thoughts? Agree or Disagree? What is your story?
In the Treatise on Principles Concerning Human Knowledge, published in 1685, George Berkeley said: We have first raised the dust, and then we complain that we cannot see. Berkeley was describing something entirely different, but his comment is, I believe, an accurate indictment of most, or all, business problems that we face.
Readers — thoughts? Agree or Disagree? What is your story?
Feigenbaum on Quality
The Mckinsey Quarterly recently published an interview with Armand V. Feigenbaum, a long-time proponent of Quality, former Director of Worldwide Manufacturing at GE, and renown author on Quality. The interview is not terribly interesting, but he does share some very obvious things worth reiterating: the customer is not an inspector and the customer judges quality based on the value of the whole offering.
Specifically, he claims:
The Mckinsey Quarterly recently published an interview with Armand V. Feigenbaum, a long-time proponent of Quality, former Director of Worldwide Manufacturing at GE, and renown author on Quality. The interview is not terribly interesting, but he does share some very obvious things worth reiterating: the customer is not an inspector and the customer judges quality based on the value of the whole offering.
Specifically, he claims:
Complexity: Different Ways, Same Output, or is It?
There are outputs and the processes that produce those outputs. In a business, if there are many processes that produce the same output — that can be a silent killer for a business.
There are outputs and the processes that produce those outputs. In a business, if there are many processes that produce the same output — that can be a silent killer for a business.
Attacking Business Complexity
Many have argued that there is an inverse relationship between business or product complexity and customer satisfaction: the more complex a product or business is, the less satisfied the customer tends to be. Yet, many businesses do little to curb their complexity woes.
In 2003, H.J. Heinz recognized their complexity issues and attacked it head-on. In their 2003 Annual Report, we read the following:
Many have argued that there is an inverse relationship between business or product complexity and customer satisfaction: the more complex a product or business is, the less satisfied the customer tends to be. Yet, many businesses do little to curb their complexity woes.
In 2003, H.J. Heinz recognized their complexity issues and attacked it head-on. In their 2003 Annual Report, we read the following:
Process Measures — Productivity and Efficiency
Part of managing processes is to measure their performance. This article will discuss 2 basic process measures: Productivity and Efficiency.
Productivity
Simply, productivity is measured like this:
Productivity = Outputs / Inputs
For instance,
| Quantity | $/Unit | |
| Car X | 4000 | $8,000 |
| Car Y | 6000 | $9,500 |
| Labor Hours for X | 20,000 | $12/Hour |
Part of managing processes is to measure their performance. This article will discuss 2 basic process measures: Productivity and Efficiency.
Productivity
Simply, productivity is measured like this:
Productivity = Outputs / Inputs
For instance,
| Quantity | $/Unit | |
| Car X | 4000 | $8,000 |
| Car Y | 6000 | $9,500 |
| Labor Hours for X | 20,000 | $12/Hour |
The Apple iPhone Supply Chain
pdate: To read Aza Raskin’s (Aza is son of Jef Raskin, the inventor of the Macintosh) thoughts on the iPhone’s User Interface, please go here: . Alternatively, you can check out my .
Analyzing LicketyShip
I’ll be providing a take-home quiz to my students tomorrow. I want to provide thoughtful dialogue and inquiry, rather than the typical, boring, uninspiring material that some classes provide.
I’ll be asking my students to consider LicketyShip as a case and ask them to discuss LicketyShip in the framework of the four performance dimension: Time, Costs, Flexibility, and Quality.
Specifically,
I’ll be providing a take-home quiz to my students tomorrow. I want to provide thoughtful dialogue and inquiry, rather than the typical, boring, uninspiring material that some classes provide.
I’ll be asking my students to consider LicketyShip as a case and ask them to discuss LicketyShip in the framework of the four performance dimension: Time, Costs, Flexibility, and Quality.
Specifically,
