Aug 20, 2003
Business people have long used survey-based reports to observe markets and aid forecasting. In this regard, reports of purchasing manager surveys, in particular, are popular because they quickly furnish both…
Aug 14, 2003
I was recently asked by a team of people from one of our partner companies the following question: We are moving to a governance role from a service role, with…
Aug 7, 2003
Though Japanese firms first embraced supplier development after the end of World War II, it has only begun to take hold in the United States in the past three decades.…
Jul 15, 2003
Energy sector capital projects typically cost hundreds of millions and even billions of dollars to construct. A major component of these projects is the engineered equipment that the facility is…
Jul 9, 2003
Lean Manufacturing, an approach to manufacturing made famous by Toyota, has been hailed as the next great thing by consultants and practitioners. Fads, like reengineering and ERP solutions, have come…
Jul 2, 2003
No one would disagree that new products are the lifeblood of the pharmaceutical and biotech industries. Almost every company in this sector is focused on developing new products, grow revenues,…
Congratulations! You’ve reengineered your product development process and manufacturing’s inputs are finally integrated early enough to make a difference. Quality is up and products are launching faster. But that doesn’t…
Jun 24, 2003
Six sigma is a statistical level that represents 3.4 defects per million. Six Sigma is a process that has been around since the late 1970s and mid-1980s. It was developed…
Jun 19, 2003
As the 21st century begins, the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry has entered an era of explosive growth in innovation, investment and competition. At the same time, both established players and…
Jun 10, 2003
Putting a high-tech golf club in the hands of a high-handicap golfer will not necessarily produce a world class golfer. Similarly, simply adding technology to a poorly designed supply chain…