Fundamentals of Manufacturing Excellence

Abstract

Manufacturing excellence, world-class stature, being the best of the best—the ability to provide high quality, competitively priced products and services in a global marketplace—is a major hurdle confronting manufacturers. The challenges they face are well known: the need to improve product quality, drastically shorten product development cycles, increase productivity growth, stimulate product and process innovation, and respond quickly to changing customer demands. Many U.S. manufacturers, however, are woefully unaware of the widening performance gap between them and their competitors, insufficiently cognizant of their customers’ needs, and naively preoccupied with near term achievements of their firm, while neglecting the long term investments needed to compete in the international arena.