Content by William A. Levinson
The Henry Ford of Renewable EnergyWe must get the price sufficiently low and the performance sufficiently high
Wed, 03/06/2013 - 09:46
Automobiles were once high-maintenance luxuries that only the wealthy could afford. Renewable energy, such as that from photovoltaic sources, also is a luxury among whose sole redeeming qualities are its uninterruptable nature—at least during the… Eliminate Muda from Aircraft BoardingOften it takes common sense, not the theory of constraints, to stop waste
Thu, 01/24/2013 - 15:49
It is a basic principle that muda (waste) often hides in plain view, and it persists because people become used to living with it or working around it. Bricklaying, one of the world’s oldest trades, is a classic example.
Frank Gilbreth, a pioneer… Henry Ford Would Dump CaliforniaCap and trade one evil for another
Thu, 12/13/2012 - 16:14
Henry Ford would have fired for incompetence any manager who tried to move jobs offshore for cheap labor. He believed—and more important, proved—that intelligent management can make most jobs sufficiently value-adding to justify high wages for… Large Cities Are Now MudaInternet technology has ended the city’s usefulness as a center of commerce
Wed, 12/05/2012 - 10:21
The New York metropolitan area took longer than other regions to recover from Hurricane Sandy, due largely to the logistical difficulty of getting things into and out of cities in general. Problems included, for example, gasoline rationing because… Are Your Attribute Control Charts Obsolete?Take advantage of sophisticated control chart methods
Thu, 09/20/2012 - 11:57
The traditional control charts for nonconformances (np and p) and defects (c and u) date back to the 1920s, and they rely on the normal approximation to the binomial and Poisson distributions, respectively. This approximation works best when the… Energy and Environmental Gap Analysis from 1909Human engineers have yet to beat nature in efficiency
Wed, 08/22/2012 - 13:26
ISO 14001 originated in the 1990s, and ISO 50001 is even newer. The basic and easily understandable concepts behind them have, however, been around for more than 100 years.
Harrington Emerson’s paper, “Efficiency as a Basis for Operation and Wages… Needed: A New Model for Public Education It’s possible to streamline learning and improve teachers’ salaries without raising taxes
Fri, 07/06/2012 - 15:40
Two thousand years ago, somebody (like the future Alexander the Great) who wanted to learn from a famous philosopher (like Aristotle) had to visit him in person, or vice versa. Written correspondence was of course possible, but every letter had to… ISO 9001: Conspicuous by Its AbsenceYou know a quality standard is effective when it’s invisible
Fri, 06/08/2012 - 12:33
People often ask for examples of benefits from implementing ISO 9001-compliant quality management systems (QMS). Such examples are often difficult to provide, at least in terms of immediate results. The reason is that the effects of ISO 9001 and its… Combine ISO 50001 with ISO 14001 and Drop the GHG Provision Green manufacturing delivers bottom-line results
Tue, 05/08/2012 - 10:30
The ISO 14001 environmental management systems (EMS) standard and the new ISO 50001 energy management systems (EnMS) standard are complementary, synergistic, and mutually supporting systems for improving stakeholder value. ISO 50001’s proposed… P-TECH: An Old but Good IdeaThere’s already a solution for matching high-school education to the needs of high-tech manufacturing
Wed, 04/18/2012 - 10:46
Loss of American manufacturing capability to low-wage countries is but one part of the overall problem with the U.S. economy. The other part consists of a shortage of skilled workers, given that a high school diploma is no longer adequate for many…
