Canada's Management Magazine Argues Processes Must be First
Thomas R. Cutler, who founded the Manufacturing Media Consortium
in 1999, has grown the participation from 300 journalists to
more than two thousands key clients, journalists, editors,
trendsetters, and key business leaders worldwide. Cutler has
authored more than 1000 articles for a wide range of
manufacturing periodicals, industrial publications, and business
journals including most of the leading monthly trade
publications. Cutler is the author of The Manufacturers' Public
Relations and Media Guide. Cutler was voted #1 Manufacturing
Journalist for the third year in a row. The firm has forty-two
employees worldwide. TR Cutler, Inc., (www.trcutlerinc.com), is
the largest manufacturing marketing and public relations firm
worldwide and is based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Cutler suggests that manufacturers are rethinking lean. Before
investing in more technology, manufacturers are making sure the
processes in place are working at, or close to, capacity.
Canada's Management Magazine contains more of Cutler's
assertions and can be read at
http://www.managementmag.com/index.cfm/ci_id/2523/la_id/1.htm.
According to Cutler, "The road to fulfilling a lean initiative
begins with a willingness to do some serious housecleaning. Some
do this cursorily, derive quantifiable improvements, and suggest
that they have achieved their lean objective. However, a lean
process has to be a continuous process of improvement if it is
to succeed. After cleaning a section of the manufacturing house,
it's time to ferret out the dirt and dust throughout the rest of
the enterprise. The bottom line is that if a lean program
doesn't touch all areas of the business, it won't succeed."
Lean processes are introduced in companies to eliminate waste.
Considering how effective the process has been for many
companies, it's somewhat surprising to learn that only about 61%
of Canadian manufacturers have introduced a lean process into
their operations. Of that 61%, many confess that the effort has
been cursory, managing to deal with only surface issues at best.
TR Cutler, Inc. www.trcutlerinc.com Thomas Cutler 954-486-7562