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制造商探索途径,以效率

虽然一些工业部门管理人员已经意识到,在工厂延续了低效率的,并且都知道,制造业是不是有利可图,因为它可能是,要改变性强。杰里米·海曼



今天的制造工厂留下很多改进的余地。产品仍然轧断装配在20世纪50年代和60年代,当能源和原材料很便宜,环境是自由时间设计的线路。虽然一些工业部门管理人员已经意识到,在工厂延续了低效率的,并且都知道,制造业是不是有利可图,因为它可能是,要改变性强。

要做什么呢?一个铁w of the more progressive manufacturing managers, along with a handful of industrial consultants, assembled a discussion group last year to haul the twin ideas of efficiency and profit into the open and allow them to mature. That group, known as the Evolutionary Manufacturing Discussion Group, convened at Rocky Mountain Institute in mid-August.

该聚会始于2001年5月,当罗伯特“医生”大厅,在美国印第安纳大学商学院名誉教授,和查理Colosky,顾问业务发展Associates公司,斯威尔,印第安纳州总统,并召开了讨论小组“考虑一般的制造和管理的未来”为Colosky把它。小组成员认为首次会议富有成效,并决定继续。在RMI 8月份的会议是该组的第四名。

许多RMI Solutions读者听说过这个词“精益制造” - 从工业生产过程的系统识别和消除浪费。霍尔,Colosky,以及他们在业界同仁的挑战是要看到未来的可能性会是怎样用于制造系统削减浪费。

Evolutionary Manufacturing Discussion Group events begin with a guest speaker in the morning, followed by an afternoon of discussion of the ideas inspired by the speaker. RMI CEO and cofounder Amory Lovins kicked off the meeting with a presentation of his popular parable about parachuting cats into Borneo, a classic example of how a lack of whole-systems thinking can lead to unintended consequences. In the early 1950s, the Dayak people of Borneo suffered from malaria. The World Health Organization had a solution: the WHO sprayed large amounts of DDT to kill the mosquitoes that carried the malaria. The mosquitoes died; the malaria declined -- so far, so good. But there were side effects. First, the roofs of people's houses began to fall down on their heads. It seemed that the DDT was also killing a parasitic wasp that had previously controlled thatch-eating caterpillars. Worse, DDT-poisoned insects were eaten by geckoes, which were in turn eaten by housecats. The cats started to die, rats flourished, and the people were threatened by potential outbreaks of typhus and plague. To cope with these problems, which it had itself created, the WHO was obliged to enlist the help of the British Royal Air Force to air-drop 14,000 live cats into Borneo.

This tale about alackof whole-systems thinking underscores that if we don't understand how things are connected then often the cause of problems is solutions. But if we harness hidden connections, we can often solve or avoid a problem in a way that also solves or avoids many others without making new ones -- before someone needs to parachute more cats. Getting multiple benefits from single expenditures is the core of integrative design. Because current manufacturing systems are not based on whole-systems thinking, humans generate a lot of waste. In the United States, we each daily generate about 20 times our body weight in waste. And that massive flow of materials to no purpose, Lovins pointed out, is a vast business opportunity.

Lovins explained the four principles of natural capitalism (1. radically increase the productivity of resources; 2. shift to biologically inspired production models; 3. move to a solutions-based business model; and 4. reinvest in natural capital), and used real-world examples to show how nature uses raw materials in ever-evolving but virtually perfect processes.

The Challenge of “Lean”

Inspired by Lovins's talk, the EMD Group started applying its challenging message to business. The root of the task with lean manufacturing is implementation -- etching nature's impeccable, life-nurturing processes into the hearts and minds of corporate leaders, shop floor supervisors, and employees at every level. There are multiple reasons why resource efficiency isn't standard operating procedure for most firms.

一个企业可持续发展的事实是,这实现它公司一般都有一个开明的C必威体育2018EO或者领导团队。虽然解决方案有时会从底部或侧面来,自上而下的转换是最有可能生存。在废物流利用工人发起的进步周期性企业改制过程中往往存在着扫出。

RMI的凯瑟琳更环保,谁组织了8月的会议指出,通用汽车公司在同一时间聘请了一堆的“乱用”的工程师和“咸”各部门和他们在一起,表面上是为了带来更多的新理念融入设计过程。然而,该计划被挫败。很短的时间周期内的新工程师中的每一个退出,因为由老员工发挥自己的创意性的。“抗体”,一位前苹果电脑公司的经理谁是目前装配在泰克仪器负责约翰·瓦尔纳,说。到变化的机构性有时由该术语是已知的。

Trent Spear, a manager with ABB, a multinational manufacturer of electrical systems and components, observed that a kind of corporate inertia stands in the way of the implementation of efficiency measures. Executives often feel that an engineer who is experienced in the particular field where he will be working is the only sound hire to make. But the experienced engineer, more often than not, has a preconceived idea of how things should be done, making efficiency innovations harder to achieve. A bright engineer hired from another field might see more readily the inefficiencies in a process because she's inexperienced in that industry, and hasn't become blind to the waste.

Colosky观察,试图找到一种方式让人们拥抱变化,一种方式,他们的利益和不压倒他们,是不容易的。管理表现出很大的阻力,例如,从面向产品的商业租赁或其他转换到面向服务的模式。许多人甚至没有与租赁车舒服,他说,并指出,“我们认为,所有权是更安全的。”

带来企业变革的其他方式可以更好地工作。随着修改后的建筑设计charrette过程RMI使用,洛文斯说,创新能够更牢固地通过在企业架构的多层次多,涉及人员创业。“一旦他们的做法设计的无畏,用干净的纸,这是相当惊人的会发生什么,”他说。

午餐后,工作组将分成三个较小的小组讨论下午,并采取了教育,员工保留和管理变革的挑战。教育可能是的根源之一unlean制造业。彼得·圣吉,组织学习协会的创始人和RMI的朋友,注意到,在一般教育系统的主要缺陷是大人培养青少年对当前的世界,而不是非常不同的世界,会存在,当他们长大成人。这将塑造未来的因素必须与企业的基本考虑沿。汤姆·约翰逊,波特兰州立大学的MBA课程教授指出,商学院在美国的经常主要用作筛选和招募高管的设备。

聘用和留住有才华的年轻员工,其能量和新的理念都具有传染性,也存在问题。哈利奥特,目前正与可口可乐公司回忆说,当时前面的另一个财富500强企业一个充满活力的年轻工程师从MIT来与感染了整个办公室的工作积极性。不幸的是,因为谁是管理团队的一部分,某些人都觉得他的才华和热情的威胁,他没呆多久。瞬态高管是另一个主要障碍实现精益生产和自然资本主义。斯皮尔说,他担心的是,如果自然资本主义是由企业采用,这个概念也不会因为在管理鼠疫许多公司频繁变动持续。“我担心的,”他说,“是领导人将在natcap带来,然后离开,别人会接管一些其他的想法。”

Small Steps First

虽然没有企业转白天和半会议期间煽动,Colosky表示对获得可持续发展融入到行业的一些小但重要的步骤,完成。必威体育2018首先,这个年轻群体的成员满足自己,他们会都在寻找同样的目标。其次,成员有机会谈论和引进像自然资本主义进入市场根本不同的想法比较他们的个人经验。所有可以比较的经验,并开始寻找可共享,跨部门的解决方案。新的连接均已完成,也和现有的关系,巩固了作为本次会议的结果,带来了新的信心和友爱的成员。会议的第四个成就是开发新的方法,以工业效率和环保意识的领域前进。

In a Saturday morning session, group members agreed there is a future for the organization, bringing the message of efficiency and environmental consciousness into industry. Doc Hall might have summed up the discussions best when he said, "David is still looking at Goliath. These people have been beaten up enough times that they know that change doesn't come easily." Who can say what the future might hold for the small EMD Group? David was a small guy, but he certainly put Goliath in his place.

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这篇文章,这是首次出版于2002年9月,被重印的礼貌落基山研究所

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