Track 5
Leadership in Compression
Doc Hall
Professor Emeritus, Indiana University
Abstract: Within a decade, we will face challenges far more daunting than the “Japanese industrial invasion” of the 1980s. Chronic materials shortages, energy shortages, environmental degradation, and the fallout from globalization are four. Working harder the same old way cannot cope with these. As usually practiced, even Lean operations falls short. But Lean and quality working tools introduce disciplines useful for meeting these challenges.
What’s missing is a working culture using Lean tools – and more – to create enterprises in which all employees are regarded as professional, and that collaborate to overcome complex problems from many directions. For example, “Design for Everything (DFX)” is beyond the capability of a command-and-control silo organization. We don’t know how to meld all the people and points of view necessary to do this in a complex case.
The key to unraveling this is leadership to migrate to a new working culture, and it has to come from the top. Only top management can influence all the contributors to working culture, from the accounting system to HR policies, plus illustrate the behavior that is necessary from everyone in order to work in this way.
Bio: Dr. Hall is Professor Emeritus of the Kelley School of Business, Indiana University. He is a founding member of the Association for Manufacturing Excellence, and is now editor-in-chief of its publication, Target. His experience with Lean operations dates to the late 1970s. He has been an examiner for the U. S. Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, a judge for the Pace Award (innovative auto suppliers), and reviewed applicants for Industry Week’s annual 10 Best Plants competition.
Before becoming an academic, Doc worked for Eli Lilly and Union Carbide. His undergraduate degree is chemical engineering; graduate degrees are in operations management. Doc’s first book was Zero Inventories in 1983. Now he is working on a seventh, Compression, which makes the case that only by a major change in how we think about business systems can we meet 21 st century challenges.
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