The LNS Weekly Industrial Round Up 3/2/2013

To engage: involve oneself, become occupied, participate, interlock, mesh, attract, hold the attention of.

This week’s articles serve as a reminder of the importance of engagement, especially among individuals. In a day when technology is heavily used and consistently evolving, the roots of communication tend to be lost or pushed aside from time to time. At LNS Research, we preach the constant communication among people, processes, and technology. Only with all three segments interacting and working at their highest potential will an organization achieve operational efficiency and improvements. 

Economic Outcomes of a Carbon U.S. Tax

The National Association of Manufacturers released a study conducted by NERA Economic Consulting proving that a carbon tax would have extreme effects on manufacturing. Economic Outcomes of Carbon U.S. Tax states that imposing this tax would result in price increases for natural gas, electricity, gasoline, and other commodities. Which would in turn cause higher production costs, less spending on non-energy goods, lower labor productivity, and decreased labor force wages. Full Report & Economic Impact of Top 10 States.

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Siemens tackles skills gap with UK’s first engineering education and careers portal for schools

“The only way to change the perceptions of engineering and manufacturing is to target children”. Siemens has released an education portal, the first of its kind, that allows teachers, students, and parents to access information specifically designed to encourage the young generation to focus on engineering and manufacturing subjects. By 2014, this portal will be accessible to 5,000 schools with a reach of 1.95 million students, the 11 to 14 age group, in this first year. Inspiring pupils and supporting teachers.

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CAPA Drives Dramatic Improvement in Product Compliance [DATA]

One of the most widely used processes for improving the quality of products and processes is non-conformance reporting and corrective and preventive actions (CAPA). The majority of executives we surveyed noted that their companies were automating CAPA as a part of EQMS. In this article Matthew Littlefield discusses the importance of automating CAPA as well as corresponding benchmark data. Driving improvements.

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The Lean LaunchPad Goes to High School

No lengthy business plans. No classroom constraints. Steve Blank’s approach to building a successful start-up blows traditional teaching techniques (similar to those that I experienced, out of the water. Instead of keeping the ideas within the classroom, writing an entire business plan, and discussing the what-if’s, students are now creating companies and tweaking their business models due to real world testing. Expanding this entrepreneurial mindset, Lean LaunchPad is now being tested within a high school setting. We love start-ups.

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The Key to Transformational Improvement: Worker Engagement

An article that I recently came across proves to be an interesting discussion of the current continuous improvement initiatives in relation to employee engagement. Jeff Moad of Manufacturing Executive discusses why some companies are experiencing diminishing returns on their lean implementations. Moad’s advice is that while lean tools can be effective, manufacturers cannot expect to achieve breakthrough performance without an underlying culture: employee engagement.  

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You Might Also Be Interested In:

What the Experts Say About Quality Management Metrics [Infographic]

How EQMS Takes the CAPA Management Process to the Next Level

The LNS Weekly Industrial Round Up 2/18/2013 - 2/24/2013