The 5 Whys technique involves asking "Why?" repeatedly—typically five times—to identify the root cause of a problem. The number five isn’t r...

Providing positive feedback to an employee is easy, right? Smiles and emotional high-fives are exchanged, while everyone feels warm and fuzz...

My Interview with Gary Goodluck

I had the opportunity to interview a plant Chemical Engineer recently. For the sake of anonymity I'll call ...

What is at the Root of Conflicting Objectives?

Over the course of my career, I’ve been involved with the Annual Objective Process for decad...

If you want to maximize success within the structure of a manufacturing company simply focus on two roles: the sales role and the machine op...

Working for a manufacturing company is where it’s at! Most people don’t realize it though. People outside of it see manufacturing through th...

Powerful Six-Sigma Tools for a Job Shop

I’m not a big fan of force-fitting lean and six-sigma tools into applications that just don’t make ...