Bill Ritchie

Employee engagement should be at the core of every strong continuous improvement program. People should know they can make a difference, even in the complex world of high-product-mix, low-volume manufacturing. This is where improvement methods like quick-response manufacturing can help.

The traditional cost-based approach to manufacturing promotes using your resources—people and machines—to the fullest extent, but this can wreak havoc in high-product-mix manufacturing, especially in contract operations with varying and unpredictable levels of demand. This is where the value of spare capacity comes into play.