NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR
MANUFACTURING MANAGEMENT
Topical links
Library
This page includes links to short background papers on various aspects of manufacturing.
Lifecycle of a silver bullet
An amusing article by Sarah A Sheard in the magazine Crosstalk, 2003.
Six sigma
An excellent summary of Six Sigma, which has been very successful for GE, by Kaliym A. Islam, January 2004.
Agile companies
A series of short articles on agile companies, regularly updated. From www.globalprovince.com
Technology diffusion
Research proposal for a PhD, by Chris Martin of Smartlink: An examination of technology diffusion within small and medium enterprises in Australia.
IMS
An introduction to Intelligent Manufacturing Systems
Introduction to the Symphony project
Lean Production
Executive Guide to Lean Thinking - by Nick Rich from the Lean Enterprise Research Centre at Cardiff, Wales. [PDF file - needs the free Adobe Acrobat Reader]
Humour
The ten best tools of all time. Though it's listed under Humour (because it's funny) there's a lot of truth in it. However, the focus is on automotive tools. Are there manufacturing tools that are better? If you come up with an idea, post it on our Discussion Forum.
You probably know of Murphy's Law ("What can go wrong will go wrong - and what has gone wrong will get worse"). But are you aware of Augustine's laws? After working in the US aerospace industry, Norman Augustine wrote a book with his 52 laws - for example Law 11:
"If the earth could be made to rotate twice as fast, managers would get twice as much done. If the earth could be made to rotate 20 times as fast, everyone else would get twice as much done since all the managers would fly off."
For all the laws, see members.fortunecity.com/peggyr/Jokes/Business_Humor/Augustines_Laws.html
Information about the book (from Amazon books)