Consider this all‐too‐common scenario: A manufacturer, a division of a holding company, is run by the numbers. As long as the division throws off cash, corporate leaves it alone. Then the antiquated physical plant, with its high cost of quality, long lead times, and dinosaur products,...

The long‐term goal of a manufacturing strategy should be to propel the status (and contribution) of manufacturing from a perceived corporate liability to that of a true competitive advantage. Significant improvement in manufacturing productivity is measured by output, costs, lead time, and...