An Avoidable Manufacturing Failure?
Google announced in May that it has decided to close its Motorola Moto X smartphone plant. The Texas plant has been in operation for one year. Its smartphones will be manufactured in China and Brazil. One goal for this plant was to “…challenge conventional wisdom that manufacturing in the U.S. is too expensive.” But unit quarterly sales were so low that economies of scale could not be realized. Keeping manufacturing operations in this country... Read More
Avoiding a Common Manufacturing Problem
Otis Elevator’s costly move of its Mexican plant to its South Carolina plant is a common problem in manufacturing. Sadly it is an elementary, “Manufacturing 101”, process that seasoned manufacturing managers know how to avoid. Contrary to Otis’ reasoning that “…it was trying to do too much”. The principal cause was most likely that the “manufacturing fundamentals” were not accurate. This would include inaccurate bills of material... Read More