Remove Innovation Remove Operations Remove Six Sigma Remove Technology
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Strategy Execution - The Un-Idea

Six Disciplines

Companies operated alone, rather than being part of partner networks or plugging their people into informal relationships. It was an ineffective way to operate, especially after the information technology revolution took place, and to break out of it, companies needed management ideas.

Execution 101
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Operational Improvement Has Improved

Harvard Business Review

If you've had a bad experience with an operational improvement effort (like Six Sigma or Business Reengineering), or if you haven't given it much attention lately, you should take a fresh look. The growth of social technology for sharing and learning. But improvement has improved.

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6 Silent Productivity and Profitability Pitfalls, part 1 of 7

Strategy Driven

The last decade ushered in an economic meltdown and technological breakthroughs that have forever changed the business world as we knew it. Historic innovation often comes during times of historic difficulty, as these breakdowns create the demand for something new to emerge. Suppressing Innovation. Not Listening.

Ohno 50
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Before Automating Your Company?s Processes, Find Ways to Improve Them

Harvard Business Review

One of the most recent automation technologies to emerge is robotic process automation , or RPA. It operates at the task level and not the end-to-end process level.” The company may have collections of standard operating procedures, but they are often poorly documented and out of date.

Process 12
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How GE Stays Young

Harvard Business Review

Under CEO Jack Welch in the 1980s and 1990s, they adopted operational efficiency approaches (“ Workout ,” “Six Sigma,” and “Lean”) that reinforced their success and that many companies emulated. But, as befits a company that has been around for 130 years, GE is moving on. They have branded it “FastWorks.”

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Avoid the Improvement Hype Cycle

Harvard Business Review

Fed by consultants, gurus, technology vendors, and academics, their enthusiasm for a particular process improvement method takes on a religious tone (as I described in my last post.) Brad Power is a consultant and researcher in process innovation. And "What can we do now to ensure we don't repeat the mistakes of the past?"

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Can Anyone Stop Amazon from Winning the Industrial Internet?

Harvard Business Review

Companies like Rolls Royce can, therefore, offer outcome deals where they guarantee customer outcomes (examples: zero downtime, higher speed, more fuel efficiency, zero operator error, greater reliability) and share risks and rewards with customers. For that end, they must be able to attract world-class innovators and software engineers.