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Can Lean Manufacturing Put an End to Sweatshops?

Harvard Business Review

It involves replacing traditional mass manufacturing with “lean manufacturing” principles. Over the last thirty years, the lean approach — developed by Japanese automakers — has permeated the manufacturing sector in developed countries, but is much less commonly used in the developing world.

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We Need a Better Language for Organizational Relationships

Harvard Business Review

But just as we need to know whether the evening we are about to spend is with our mother-in-law or a university buddy, managers inside organizations need to know whether the meeting they are about to have with a manufacturing expert is with an internal supplier, a team member, or a lobbyist for lean manufacturing.

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Diet and Exercise Tips from Process Fitness Fanatics

Harvard Business Review

But that hasn't been the case at Danaher, DuPont, and Staples, which have continually improved their operations over many years, to the delight of their customers. Danaher, the $10 billion conglomerate of 600 manufacturing companies, got serious about process improvement after the surprising turnaround of a subsidiary in the mid-1990s.