Global competition in the manufacturing arena continues to intensify, exerting unrelenting pressure for better quality, faster delivery, greater product diversity and lower price. In response, manufacturers have undergone significant, often wrenching changes to reengineer existing processes. While these changes may have resulted in substantial improvements, they have only been achieved through the expenditure of extraordinary levels of effort. And still, managers are left with the uncomfortable feeling they are falling short of market expectations.

Every manufacturing organization is unique. Experience has repeatedly shown that the attributes that make each plant unique are the company culture, the performance measures, and the plant-wide policies and operating procedures- all of which have evolved over the years.

Despite each plant's uniqueness, all manufacturing plants share many common attributes. This volume clearly explains the dynamics that create these shared characteristics, and provides powerful insight into into both the problems that plague different plant types as well as the appropriate solutions.

With clarity and insight, the authors identify the outdated assumptions (and resulting practices) that continue to hinder our competitive performance. Through pointed examples, they show managers how to apply powerful, common-sense principles to systematically redefine competitive performance today and drive continuous improvement for tomorrow.