"Manufacturing" Posts

How A New Perspective Revolutionized Automotive Manufacturing

The innovation of the modern assembly line sprang from out of the box thinking...

Most people learn from their history books that Henry Ford revolutionized the manufacture of automobiles by introducing a moving assembly line in order to increase production and lower costs. This is true. What the history books don’t reveal is that this idea was NOT Henry Ford’s!

Here’s the real story behind how Henry Ford utilized a new viewpoint to ‘assemble’ cars, which ultimately changed history:

The idea actually came from William ‘Pa’ Klann, one of Ford’s engineers, who had visited the Swift & Company’s slaughterhouse in Chicago. There, Klann had viewed what he called a ‘disassembly line’ for dressing beef. …

GPS Inc. Supports Made ‘As If’ in the USA…

The April 24th eight-story garment factory collapse in Bangladesh that killed 1,127 workers drew the international spotlight on Western companies taking advantage of cheap labor, but not enforcing Western standards in terms of fire and safety regulations.  How Western companies should respond and if they can play a critical role in reform is now the issue for debate.

Corporate Interest Should Include Worker Safety

America’s Walt Disney Company made headlines by pulling out completely in Bangladesh, while more than 30 mostly European companies (these include H&M of Sweden, Zara’s parent Inditex of Spain, Carrefour of France, and Tesco of …

How to Thrive in a ‘Down’ Economy

By Tyler Burgess as featured in Manufacturing Today

Being left behind are the manufacturers that are just going through the motions…

Despite the public perception that the economy is in a downturn, many manufacturing operations are thriving and turning a profit. Their owners are managing “the business of the business” rather than just making widgets. Being left behind are the manufacturers that are just going through the motions, unwilling or unable to make changes to adapt to the current economic conditions and fluctuations.

First Order of Business

So, what exactly is managing the business of the business? It starts with …