Here's one for all you corporate types.
Many business people think they are dynamic (1). They speak of thinking “Outside (of) the box” yet they all use a matrix (2) to run their business affairs.
People who think of themselves as dynamic tend to think they are strong, adaptable, and in constant motion. The reality is that they lack any backbone. They are simply reacting to external forces. Those forces are the only ones that show any strength.
Using a matrix as a business model attempts to put every activity in a box. “We've got it all mapped out. This job description performs these functions and is worth this much money.”
Thinking outside the box upsets the whole business model. Such people are then no longer “team players”.
Henry Ford (3) started the wave. Toyota (4) later picked up on it and extended it's principles. Now, American manufacturing (having lost it's innovational abilities due to corporate greed) is attempting to copy the Toyota model.
So many of these new tools we've implemented (lean manufacturing, 5S, Six Sigma) (5) are an attempt to copy what the Japanese have done. This, my fellow Americans, is absurd. We do not need to speak Japanese in order to run a successful manufacturing outfit here in the United States.
Once (if ever) the corporations start looking beyond the next quarterly report, and start seeing their customers as something more than cash cows (6), things might change. Until that happens, we (U.S. Manufacturing) will be continually run over by those who do.
Kevin Reynolds
Notes:
1.
Dynamic
Etymology
From French dynamique < Ancient Greek δυναμικός (dunamikos) "powerful" < δύναμις (dunamis) "power"
Adjective
Changeable; active; in motion usually as the result of an external force.
The environment is dynamic, changing with the years and the seasons.
He was a dynamic and engaging speaker.
Powerful
Able to change and to adapt (also in computing)
Synonyms
(changeable, active): active, fluid, moving
(powerful): energetic, powerful
Re: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dynamic
2.
Matrix
Etymology
From Latin mātrix "dam" (breeding animal), later referring to the womb. From mater, meaning "mother".
Noun
matrix (plural matrices or matrixes)
(obsolete) The womb. The concept of an enclosure is common to many of the other uses of matrix.
(biology) The material or tissue in which more specialized structures are embedded.
(biology) An extracellular matrix, the material or tissue between the cells of animals or plants.
(biology) Part of the mitochondrion.
(biology) The medium in which bacteria are cultured.
(mathematics) A rectangular arrangement of numbers or terms having various uses such as transforming coordinates in geometry, solving systems of linear equations in linear algebra and representing graphs in graph theory.
(computing) A two-dimensional array. A table of data.
(geology) A geological matrix, the outer material of a rock consisting of larger grains embedded in a material consisting of smaller ones.
(archaeology) The sediment surrounding and including the artifacts, features, and other materials at a site.
(analytical chemistry) The environment from which a given sample is taken.
Synonyms
(mathematics): array, table (table of data): array, grid, spreadsheet, table
(computing): array
Re: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/matrix
3.
Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was the American founder of the Ford Motor Company and
father of modern assembly lines used in mass production. His introduction of the Model T automobile revolutionized transportation and American industry.
Re: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Ford
4.
In the days when Toyota was first taking a huge share of the global automobile market and becoming the model for "lean" manufacturing, they were following Ford's lead.
Read more: http://automotive-history.suite101.com/article.cfm/toyota_and_henry_ford#ixzz0QXRb39Rw
Re: http://automotive-history.suite101.com/article.cfm/toyota_and_henry_ford
Lean Manufacturing is the latest buzzword in manufacturing circles. It is not especially new. It derives from the Toyota Production System or Just In Time Production, Henry Ford and other predecessors.
Re: http://www.strategosinc.com/just_in_time.htm
Henry Ford would just love Toyota: Car makers’ strategy for market share
5.
Lean manufacturing or lean production, which is often known simply as "Lean", is a production practice that considers the expenditure of resources for any goal other than the creation of value for the end customer to be wasteful, and thus a target for elimination. Working from the perspective of the customer who consumes a product or service, "value" is defined as any action or process that a customer would be willing to pay for. Basically, lean is centered around creating more value with less work. Lean manufacturing is a generic process management philosophy derived mostly from the Toyota Production System (TPS) (hence the term Toyotism is also prevalent) and identified as "Lean" only in the 1990s.
Re: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lean_manufacturing
6.
"Cash cow" is also used sarcastically by sales & business people to describe a customer or organization that has no control over its spending.
Re: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cash_cow
