Exploring our Industrial Heritage – Seattle (Part II)
amazon factory history industrial history lean lumber quality seattle timber tourism washington
Logging and fishing are still solid industries in the Seattle area. For example the fishing industry still holds a presence with fishing vessels moored along its main port, the Port of Seattle. Additionally, Seattle holds a scattering of fish canning and processing operations too. Logging is present outside of Seattle itself. Semi’s carrying large logs are a common site. As are the ever-noticeable stump fields that were previously harvested for their rich timber. It’s a sobering reminder of our unfortunate need to harvest old growth forests to support our demand for wood products and housing. Although the state of Washington does a good job of managing and balancing the harvesting and the environment, the depletion of our natural resources is a harsh reality that will end someday, and not in a good way.
Tourism is an obvious and thriving industry in Seattle and Seattle caters well to it. The city is interesting, relatively clean and easy to tour via walking, biking, scootering, car or cab. I myself had fun doing the normal touristy things like taking a boat tour, riding a scooter, visiting Pikes Place Market, seeing the boat houses, touring the underground city, visiting multiple water frontages and just walking around.
The next obvious industry, beyond tourism is the operation of the thriving Port of Seattle. It’s clear many of our nation’s imports arrive there. Many massive STS or quay cranes line the port and are used to unload shipping containers from large cargo ships. This port is very busy. Unfortunately, however, a buildup of containers along the east bank of the port are a tell-tale sign that the port is importing many more goods from overseas then they are exporting. Regardless though, the Port of Seattle is a very large port and an impressive one to see up close.
Seattle is a business hub with a strong manufacturing sector. We all know that Amazon is the king of business in the Seattle area and it ranks number two on the Fortune 500 list. There are also Starbucks, Google and Microsoft that are large area employers and Boeing too despite its recent quality woes. These are just a few of the biggies, but there are also many smaller manufacturers in the area of Seattle.
I visited one of these factories. This plant produced some critical electronic components for Boeing. What stood out to me at this plant was the quality of their workforce and their dedication to lean manufacturing. Every employee I met was sharp, energetic and had a nice bounce to their step. From the plant manager to the line worker. They were friendly and on task. This was also one of the most Lean plants I’ve seen. It was very organized and controlled as far as product flow goes. Visual controls were in place everywhere.
If cost is your primary product concern, I’m not sure Seattle is the place to manufacture. Labor costs are high there. But if quality trumps cost for you, then Seattle’s a great option to set-up shop.
Seattle’s been known as a city of boom or bust. After exploring our industrial heritage there, I can see why. Their industrial history and diversity are obvious and as each industry has ebbed-and-flowed over the decades, so has their economic success. Despite some recent hiring freezes, I would say that as long as we keep importing heavily and Amazon keeps doing Amazon things, then Seattle will continue to shine.
To keep exploring our industrial heritage, read these T4T articles:
Exploring Our Industrial Heritage: An Introduction
Exploring Our Industrial Heritage: Hoover Dam
Exploring Our Industrial Heritage: Oil Country
Exploring Our Industrial Heritage: Duluth MN
Exploring Our Industrial Heritage: Whiskey Country
Exploring Our Industrial Heritage: OKC
Exploring Our Industrial Heritage: The Illinois River Valley
Stay connected with news and updates!
If you want some weekly T4T wisdom coming straight to your inbox for your reading pleasure - look no further! Join our mailing list to receive the latest blogs and updates.
Don't worry, your information will not be shared.
We hate SPAM. We will never sell your information, for any reason.
CATEGORIES
All Categories 5 whys 5s 5s standardize 5s sustain 6m's ability accomplishment accomplishments accountability accuracy action action plans actions ada addiction addiction help admiration adverserial aerospace affordable agenda agriculture ai alcohol alcoholism amazon american disabilities act anderson-darling appreciation approachability approval art artificial intelligence artisan assembly assembly line assessment assignments attention to details attribute gage r&r auto industry auto manufacturing auto production automobile manufacturing average avoidance best practices big bend black belt boss boulder city bourbon trail breakdown budget business business case business model business proposals candidate experience candidates capability capability study cape fear capital career cargo cash flow caterpillar cell design cellular layout cememt central limit theorem central tendancy ceo certification certification training challenges change change management changeover reduction chaos chemical child labor ci cnc cnc programming cogs communication communitiy company compassion compitition concrete conducting interviews conflict conflict management consistency constraints construction consumption continuous improvement conversion loss corrective action correlation analysis cost savings costs courage course cp cp and cpk cpk cross-functional cross-training cross-training matrix crude culture current state current state map customer customer satisfaction customer service customer value customers cv daily goals dallas dam dashboard data data analytics data collection data transformation debt-free decision maker defects deliverables demand department design design loss design of experiment design review design reviews develop development dfm diaper manufacturing diet difficulties direct labor discussion discussions diversity document document control documentation doe drilling driving results drug use duluth dumping e learn e-learning eap ebit education effective effectiveness effectivity effects of change efficiency effort email empathy empirical rule employee employee assistance program employee development employee engagement employee recgonition employees encourage encouragement enforcement engagement engineer engineering equipment error proof excellence exercise expectations expertise experts facilitate facilitator factories factory family life farming feedback financial financials fishing fixed mindset flexibility flexible follow-up food processing foolproof ford forecast fossil fuels fred jones freightliners friendships frontline leaders fun gage r&r gages gasoline gemba general motors goal alignment goals gold gold rush goldrush good conflict graphs great lakes great teams gross margins gross profits growth growth mindset guidance habits health healthy heavy equipment henry ford heritage hiring histogram history hoover dam housekeeping how to be a great teammate how to thrill customer human relations human resources hydro-electric hydro-electric power hypothesis testing ice breaker illinios river valley illinois illinois river immersion importing improve improvement industiral industrial industrial engineering industrial heritage industrial heritgage industrial history industry industry 4.0 inequity injury prevention innovation inspection instructions integrity interactive learning internal promotion interview questions interview skills interview tips interviewing inventory inventory shrinkage investment iowa irresponsible jack daniels distillery tour job diversity job shop job shops jobs john deere kaizen kanban kappa kentucky knowledge labor lead leader leaders leadership leadership development leadership skills leading lean lean champion lean culture lean implementation lean journey lean kickoff lean launch lean manufacturing lean pilot project lean six sigma lean strategy lean tools lean vision learn learning leisure letter of commendation lifestyle logging logistics louisiana low prices lumber machine machine guarding machine speed machines maintenance making a pitch management management by walking around manager managers managing managing conflict managing the floor manpower manufactuing manufacturing manufacturing leaders manufacturing leadership manufacturing plants manufacturing results manufacturing supervisor manufacturing supervisor leadership manufacturing traning manufacturing variance mardi gras marfa material mbwa mean measurement meditation meeting meetings mental health mental tension mentee mentor mentoring mentorship metallurgy methods metrics midland milestones milk run mindset mining mininig minnesota mississippi river model-t money morale mother nature motivation muda multivariant analysis museum national park nature new hires new orleans new products night shift nimble business normal distribution normality test north carolina objectives office oil ojt okc oklahoma on line courses on time delivery on-site factories on-time delivery onboarding one-on-one online open-door operational excellence operator operators opex ore organization otd output overhead ownership p&l p-value packaging packaging material partner partnering partnership partnerships pdca pdca cycle peers peoria performance performance management performance patterns performance review performance reviews perimian basis personal accountability personal growth personal grwoth personality petroleum pharmaceuticals pikes place pitch plan planner planning plant plant costs plastics point of use poka yoke poka-yoke policy port portland cement positive feedback positive interactions pou power plant pp ppk praise predictive maintenance presentation presentation anxiety presentations preventative maintenance prices prime costs principles printing printing press private label private lable problem solving problem statement problems procedure procedures process process capability process center process controls process engineer process management process variation processes product development product testing production production flow production supervisor productive conflict productivity products professionalism profit profits profressional development progress project project assumptions project charter project justification project management project objectives project timing projections projects promoted props provide qms qualifies quality quality control quality management system quality tool quality training quick changeover r&d range rapid changeover recognition recognize recruiting recycling red tag referals refinery relationship reliability reputation resolving conflict resources respect responsibility responsible restore results resume resume screening resumes revenue rewards rigs risk risk management roi rolling-5 rolling-5 action plans root cause roots routine safety safety incentives sales sales tips sales volume salesperson sampling science scope scrap screening screening applicants sculptures seattle self-promotion selling service set in order set up times set-in-order set-up reduction shadow board shadowing share shareholder shine shipbuilding shipping shopfloor single minute of exchange of die single piece flow single-piece six-sigma skill development skills sleep slideshow smart goals sme smed social life solutions sort specifications specs speed to market staffing staffing model standard cost standard deviation standardize starved rock state-of-the-art statistics stats staycation steamship steel steel fabrication steel industry strategy stress stress management strong leader structure subject matter expert success sugar mill supervision supervisor supervisor development supervisor leadership supervisors supervsior supplier supplier management supply chain support support resources sustain systems t-test tactical takt tariffs teach teaching team team work team-based teammate teams teamwork technical tennesse whiskey tennessee texas the great depression the hoover dam the normal distribution curve timber time management time-series tools tourism toyota production system tpm tps training training methods travel troubleshooting trust turn around two sample t-test types of change understanding us manufacturing vacation validation value value stream value stream map value-driven values variance variances variation velocity vendor managed inventory video violations visual controls visual factory vmi voc volunteering vsm war on waste washington waste waste reduction waterway wellbeing wilmington nc wisdom work instructions work rules workforce workplace workplace conflict