Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation.
Manufacturers are increasingly working with new, game-changing ingredients, becoming more and more inventive when it comes to the materials they use. The motivating factor behind this is the desire to continue to use experienced, high-end manufactures who are capable of guaranteeing a quality product – that obviously charge more than low-cost (inexperienced) manufacturers in foreign…
A handful of decades ago, the allure of cheaper labor internationally drove the migration of large manufacturers’ production out of the United States. However, these large companies are now reconsidering this move, based on the finding that the benefit of lower wages may not be financially worth the increased costs of logistics and materials. For…
Recently, technical discussions at a recent company revealed that there were four different meanings for the term “uptime”. In addition, at another global manufacturer, four plants in the same country utilized different definitions of OEE. Often, the data sources used, as well as the variable definitions and computational procedures are different. Also, plants tend to develop their…
I hear people talking about “WIP” and I have to say that I have no Idea what they are talking about. Also, I hear this “WIP thing” used when they want to reduce the time it takes to do parts in a manufacturing plant. What are they talking about, and how can this help me speed up…
Always one for surprises, Sergio Marchionne, CEO of both the Fiat Group and Chrysler announced that he would be creating a combined entity between Fiat Auto and Chrysler. He also went on to reveal to everyone’s amazement, that Chrysler had made an operating profit of $143m in the first quarter and that net debt had…
Is it ever a wise thing in business to cut your losses and walk away? That’s the question on everyone’s lips as Ford sells Volvo to Geely. Some would say Ford got more out of the deal as they gained more technology from Volvo’s safety engineering. But the harsh truth is, that this was probably the…
