Thomas Content discusses Milwaukee auto parts supplier Tower Automotive’s ongoing layoffs. Tower will have less than 200 employeees next week. Tower supplies steel car and truck frames to the domestic auto manufacturers. Content’s article arrives the same week as GM’s announcement that they were talking with Toyota about hybrid components. Sadly, these increasingly popular parts will likely come from Toyota’s network, rather than domestic sources…
Category: Business
What Westerner’s Don’t Know About Keiretsu
Jeffrey K. Liker and Thomas Y. Choi discuss Toyota & Honda’s vaunted supplier system.
Whither GM Janesville?
Business Week disects GM’s travails, and includes a “rumor” that one of their full size SUV plants will close (one of those is Janesville).
Business Process Innovation at Ariens
Long time Wisconsin manufacturer Ariens has embraced “lean manufacturing” – made famous by the Toyota Production System. Interesting and powerful stuff. Read on.
BTW – I like their website. Straightforward, easy to read, prices upfront.
Lutz on the World’s Largest Car Market – China
Interesting reading, Bob Lutz talks about his recent visit to China and their growth prospects.
Flight of Fancy – Dayjet
The idea behind DayJet is a lot simpler than the technology it takes to make it happen. Many regional travelers are spending whole days going to airports, sitting in airports, flying to hubs, changing planes, and sitting in more airports that they could almost drive faster to their final destination. By going point-to-point when the passenger wants to fly, DayJet replicates that driving experience, but with a chauffer and at over 400 mph.
The difference between DayJet and a traditional aircraft charter is that all you’ll be chartering is the seat you are sitting in. That means if you take a friend it costs twice as much, but it doesn’t mean that you are paying for seats you don’t use. And unlike a charter, DayJet won’t charge for sending the plane to pick you up — only for when you are actually in that seat.
Only time will tell if this concept is successful. I’m for it. Imagine skipping security lines and regional hubs and going right where you want to go.
WaterPark Over Supply?
At some point, there will be too many (I’m not all that much of a fan). Ryan Masse dives in:
Noah’s Ark water park in Wisconsin Dells currently lies in a state of hibernation, a fact of life for any outdoor attraction residing in the upper Midwest.
When the park reopens next month, it will be greeted by new competition — although not in the Dells. Instead, the challenge will come from Six Flags Inc., which will unveil its brand new Hurricane Harbor water park on the grounds of its Great America Theme Park in Gurnee, Ill.
Microsoft’s Next Windows, Longhorn….
This Bill Gates quote: “Gates did promise that Microsoft’s biggest-ever marketing campaign would accompany Longhorn’s release. Microsoft recently announced plans for a precursor to that campaign, a “Start Something” blitz that will tout the abilities of current versions of Windows.” reminds me of SUN Microsystem Founder Bill Joy’s great quote: “The quality of a company’s software has an inverse relationship to the amount of money spent on marketing”. I’ve found this to be uniformly true.
Rutherford County, TN: Fastest growth in jobs
The Bureau of Labor Statistics released its figures for the fastest-growing large counties in terms of job growth last week, and Rutherford County, Tennessee came in on top at 9.2 percent.
Small businesses’ hiring habits played no small role in the number of jobs created and lost, according to Brian Headd, economist at the Small Business Administration.
“”hen a large company lays off thousands of employees it is national news, but in fact, the rise and fall of small businesses has a much greater effect on job growth than most people realize,” said Headd.
More than 90% of Corporate Spreadsheets Have Material Errors in Them
At the highest level (at least), spreadsheets should be treated as a corporate resource. For example, if you use spreadsheets for planning then you need to do everything you can to eliminate the possibility of error. And what do you do with corporate resources? You give them to the IT department which can implement proper testing and control procedures.
The real problem, of course, is that business managers don’t know that there is a problem (actually, lots of problems) with spreadsheets, while IT regards spreadsheets as falling outside its jurisdiction. So spreadsheet management falls down a hole in the middle.