The collected Body Of Knowledge of the Operational Excellence Society.
The Economist attempts to explain how economic uncertainty dulls investment. It certainly takes a cool head to invest, because a firm’s decision to build up capacity or spend cash on research pays out tomorrow – and must be paid for today. This flow of things makes for uncertain investment returns, influenced by factors—from oil prices to politics—that…
The Economist means that security guards worth their salt are paid to be paranoid – and computer-security researchers are no different. Many had long suspected that governments use the internet not only to keep tabs on particular targets, but also to snoop on entire populations. And now, stung by revelations of ubiquitous surveillance and compromised software, the…
According to the Economist, there can be few better places to talk about complexity than Vienna. In the capital of the most complicated political organisation ever to exist, hundreds of management enthusiasts converged recently to debate the subject of complexity. In their discussions, they were preoccupied with two points: that business is more complicated than ever before;…
Reuters reports that soaring diabetes rates, driven by increasing obesity, have fuelled profits at the Danish company, Novo Nordisk’s Kalundborg factory for nearly two decades. Now, the company wants to tackle obesity head on by launching a specific treatment. At first thought, it seems to be a no-brainer. However, in a global economic downturn, modestly effective weight-loss…
Total productive maintenance (TPM) originated in Japan in 1971 as a method for improved machine availability through better utilization of maintenance and production resources. Within years TPM evolved as a management approach and spread all over the world. T stands for Total, P stands for being Productive, and M is representing Maintenance / Manufacturing / Management….
The Big Idea: How can executives (or any of us, for that matter) use what we know about inventory management to make better choices about personal consumption — and improve our lives by working toward new goals with the money saved? Brian and his wife, Tonya, plan to pack their lunch from home for a year…
