"What's Working"

David Blanchard

IndustryWeek

October 2006, pp. 49-51

The latest Census of Manufacturers, sponsored by IndustryWeek, has found that lean manufacturing continues to be the most popular primary improvement method. For manufacturers surveyed, 40.5% report it is their primary improvement method (compared to 35.7% in the 2005 Census of Manufacturers). 12.4% selected Lean and Six Sigma combined (compared to 8.0% in 2005). 9.9% selected TQM (compared to 15.9% in 2005). 3.8% selected agile manufacturing (compared to 4.4% in 2005). 3.1% selected the Toyota Production System (compared to 1.5% in 2005). 3.1% selected Six Sigma (compared to 1.5% in 2005). 3.0% selected Theory of Constraints (compared to 4.0% in 2005). The remaining 24.3% selected "none" or "other".

With a multiple-response-possible survey, 70.1% report High Quality as a focus of their market strategy, 54.3% list Service and Support, 40.3% listed Total Value, 32.3% listed Fast Delivery, 28.9% listed Customization, 27.1% listed Low Cost, 24.9% listed Innovation, and 16.2% listed Product Variety.

Among their Strategic Practices, 72.9% report a Continuous Improvement Program, 50.6% report Quality Certifications, 45.9% report Customer Satisfaction Surveys, 35.2% report Benchmarking, 32.4% report Environmental Management, 24.5% report "Total Production Maintenance", 16.1% report Energy Management, and 18.3% report Open-Book Management.

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