Family Business and Chaos Theory. Our Team continued to work at the family’s manufacturing plant. Improvement is difficult without stability. Do you know anything about the chaos theory? It has to do with fractal mathematics. A fractal is a natural phenomenon or a mathematical set that exhibits a repeating pattern that displays at every [Continue Reading]
How to Properly Manage Succession Planning in Small Business and Family Business
“Call Me Irish but I don’t believe in Cooler Heads Prevailing” The stereotypical temper of the Irish and those of Irish descent is most often somewhat unexpected, extremely passionate, and very short-lived. In Family Business sometimes cooler heads don’t prevail. Main conflicts in Family Business include control, succession planning, performance and compensation issues. William [Continue Reading]
Driftwood, Spalding and FMEAs
Design For Manufacturing . Otis T. Driftwood and Captain Jeffrey Spalding were working on a new design. It was late, shirt sleeved and tired, the subject turned to this design and what might go wrong. Otis and the Captain developed an experiment that product designers use to identify possible design failures, what the effects of [Continue Reading]
Overcoming the Commonplace By Reaching for the Stars
“I just want what we all want: a comfortable couch, a nice beverage, a weekend of no distractions and a book that will stop time, lift me out of my quotidian existence and alter my thinking forever.” Quotidian, means commonplace, done daily or recurring daily. Often we need to remind ourselves, it’s our job to [Continue Reading]
It’s About Direction, Not Perfection
No effort is insignificant. By merely making a choice and pursuing an action, you can have an impact. Sure you might fail (at first), you might not be heard (at first), but you, your company, your world, your universe will be different because you took action. You moved forward on a new idea, workflow, [Continue Reading]
Customer Service. Customer Service? Customer Service!!!
There has never been a more important time to be good at the basics! Customer service, service service. The Economy is improving, volumes are up. Our organizations are lean and we must follow the process. Nothing is more important to the long-term health of our business than the trust of our customers, all our customers [Continue Reading]
Hoshin Kanri And Business Process Management (BPM)
. Hoshin Kanri is an Eastern phrase. Toyota uses it and translates it as the “point of a compass, the shiny needle that points true North or The Direction.” Key Operating Indicators that are linked and shared are past of a Hoshin System. Everyone in an organization understands that these metrics point the direction we [Continue Reading]
Process Management Key To Capturing Market Share, Leveraging Changes In Market Conditions
Can better business process management practices improve your position by making it easier be first-to-market product change/innovation, service or delivery method? Family Businesses surveyed by a major accounting firm shared some interesting observations. One of their observation showed how family firms viewed the demand for their products over the past twelve months, 44% felt the [Continue Reading]