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Looking for Junk

12 April, 2010 by James Lawther Leave a Comment

Here is a contentious statement for you.

“Manufacturing operations are better run than Service operations”.

Why do I think that?
Is it because the manufacturing guys are cleverer?
Is it because operations are more important in manufacturing?
Is it because service operations are harder to run?

I doubt any of those are true.  I think the reason is that if you are making something you can see the junk, you can see the product defects or the pool of rework on the floor.  If you are running a service operation, say tax collecting, what is there to see?

You can’t see the junk, so you need to look for it.

Photo by Jay Wennington on Unsplash

Filed Under: Blog, Operations Analysis Tagged With: clarity, manufacturing, video, visual management

About the Author

James Lawther
James Lawther

James Lawther is a middle-aged, middle manager.

To reach this highly elevated position he has worked in numerous industries, from supermarket retailing to tax collecting.  He has had several operational roles, including running the night shift in a frozen pea packing factory and carrying out operational research for a credit card company.

As you can see from his C.V. he has either a wealth of experience or is incapable of holding down a job.  If the latter is true this post isn’t worth a minute of your attention.

Unfortunately, the only way to find out is to read it and decide for yourself.

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