Systemic Continuous Improvement Strategy for World Class Performance

Next-generation manufacturing survey offers insights into benchmark performance for global competition. Key strategies for achieving world-class performance levels include continual improvement, customer-focused innovation, and sustainable development. Improvement activities should transcend traditional boundaries of the company and integrate strategic partners, such as suppliers. ...

... "Systemic continuous improvement; Record annual productivity and quality gains that exceed the competition through a companywide commitment to continuous improvement. " ...

Via Fosters: Manufacturing survey insights

Manufacturing IT Views Mobility Tops Per Barometer

Moto survey identifies mobility as key enabler to productivity in the manufacturing space. ...

... "The Motorola Enterprise Mobility Manufacturing Barometer surveyed manufacturing IT decision makers in 14 countries across four continents, of whom 80 percent cited that mobility was more important for their organizations today than in 2008. This represents a nine percent increase from previous research, indicating that enterprise mobility applications continue to grow in importance as manufacturers look to boost operational efficiencies and increase productivity in the current macro-economic climate. " ...

Via Motorola: Manufacturers View Mobility as Key to Converting Downtime into Productive Time

Lean Production Survey

Survey will understand application of lean manufacturing in newspaper production operations. ...

... "Rochester Institute of Technology is seeking newspaper production and operations executives to participate in a survey examining lean manufacturing and its application in production operations. " ...

Via Newspapers & technology: Technology

Automotive Customer Satisfaction

Customer satisfaction statistics are available for the auto industry, showing a growing disparity for American automakers except for Saturn. ...

... "Hit with record losses, American auto manufacturers are also suffering from slumping customer satisfaction. No domestic car maker is represented among the top four nameplates, but the bottom three in the industry are all American brands. Yet customer satisfaction for the industry as a whole remains at an all-time high (unchanged at 82), and one American car maker, GM's Saturn, shows considerable improvement, climbing 5% to tie its all-time high from 1998." ...

Via American Customer Satisfaction Index: American Automakers Fall Further Behind Foreign Competition (PDF)

Six Sigma Internship Provides Insights at Grainger

Intern at Grainger shares experiences from Grainger which included survey on the company's Six Sigma performance management system. ...