UNCONVENTIONAL WISDOM
Winning the Race to Market
Jim Smith
Assembly Magazine
Browsing the business management section of
any bookstore is not a task for anyone with a working mind and weak stomach. For every
Goldratt, there are countless former coaches who think supervising precocious millionaire
athletes is comparable to motivating modestly paid factory workers. For every Juran or
Drucker, there are dozens of self-proclaimed experts drawing on the purported management
wisdom of Atilla the Hun, Jon Luc Picard and even Jabba the Hut.
There are, however, gems in this literary
slag heap, and Speed to Market: How to Cut Lead Time and Increase Profits in Job Shops
and Custom Manufacturing Environments, by Vincent Bozzone, is one of them. A guidebook
to the most effective methods of getting products or services delivered before the
customer turns to competitors, Speed to Market speaks to any assembly plant and
many service industries as well.
Although Bozzone, president of the
Association for the Management of Organization Design, is new to book publishing, he has
long been a respected leader in organizational design circles. And, though he may be a
literary newcomer, he writes with a professional’s polish and a refreshing absence of
jargon. More importantly, Bozzone obviously has first-hand experience in running assembly
plants and knows his subject intimately.
For example, conventional wisdom applauds
the supplier that, finding itself short of the material specified in a contract,
substitutes higher grade—and higher cost—material to meet the delivery deadline.
Bozzone, however, argues that although the order was delivered on time, the supplier
operated poorly. The supplier cannot justify inefficiency simply because a better product
was delivered to the customer. Effective planning would have ensured that the required
materials were on hand in time to meet the delivery date.
I may be attracted to this example because
it exposes the often overlooked costs of Just-in-Time inventory management. In business,
quality is what the contract calls for and there is no future for companies that exceed
the agreement unless they can do so at no cost.
As a corollary, Bozzone points out that
maintaining a sensible inventory of parts and material—the ultimate sin according to
inventory management gurus—allows the job shop to accept last-minute rush orders.
Punctuality counts for as much as price and quality today, but on-time delivery is the
most glaring weakness in American industry. Yet, very few books have addressed the
planning and execution requirements for achieving rapid delivery in a cost-effective
manner. And, last but not least, the higher profit margin on a rush order more than covers
the additional inventory costs.
Although Bozzone doesn’t employ the
Socratic method and fictional set pieces favored by Eli Goldratt, both provide profound
yet simple answers to complex problems we all face every day. Goldratt taught us the basis
for judging a company in The Goal, and how to work through bottlenecks in Theory
of Constraints. Bozzone teaches the practical planning and execution required to stay
one step ahead of delivery requirements without going broke.
If your local bookstore doesn’t have Speed
to Market you can order online through Barnes & Noble or email Bozzone at
ddilink@aol.com. The price tag for the slim 136-page paperback is $44.95—steep if you
judge a book’s value by word count rather than substance. If you appreciate a writer
who can get the job done with an economy of words, the content is well worth the money.
Forget Jabba the Hut. It’s all about
winning the race to market, and Bozzone offers the real goods.
Order
Here
       
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