Just In Time Manufacturing a Thing of the Past?

[highfigh]

Absolutely JIT saves money and introduces many efficiencies, but right now with our off-shore sourcing of parts, it has also left us vulnerable. We seem to be under the impression that the Asian countries who have taken over our manufacturing processes are our pals. They may be friendly, but at the end of the day, they are all about enlightened self interest and they will do what is in THEIR good, not necesarily ours.

As we in North America are prone to excess, so we have been with JIT. Big batch processing may not have been the answer, but neither is JIT if you want to ensure your company can weather supply blockages. So why can't we in North America realize that there is a middle ground? A happy medium? Its time for us to find it.

As for environmental processes, you'll notice that I said "ill-concieved" environmental rules. For every valuable AND necessary rule, there is another one somewhere in the books that costs money, jobs and provides NO benefit to the environment. Thats what I mean by environmental idiocy. And unfortunately, we've allowed it to run rampant in North America, so much so that the intelligent and thoughtful environmentalists are now being ignored too.

Rod

Americans want a lot, but mostly in material things. Far too many refuse to think about the consequences of the actions of themselves and others who they're grouped with, so when they and their co-workers yell "WE WANT MORE!", they refuse to think about what happens after. We want cheaper goods- always have, since the availability of cheaper alternatives became possible, yet dealt with the reduction in quality, then clamored for something better. FF to China being given 'Most Favored Trading Partner' status and they became our #1 supplier, largely because they manipulate their currency to make the conversion rate better for themselves.

Environmental policies sometimes involve nothing more than quitting something- whether it's driving less, using less energy for heating or for industries, it doesn't cost users anything, aside from a bit of comfort. Anytime air, land and water need cleanup, it's gonna cost a lot of money because the land & water are holding a lot of pollution that was leftover from many decades/hundreds of years of dumping.

The idiocy is in people who don't know the facts telling people how to live, what to do and where they can go. Like the heads of governments and environmental experts who flew to a recent environmental summit in private jets. And Greta Thunberg, Ethanol, etc.

 

[Push]

Environmental policies sometimes involve nothing more than quitting something- whether it's driving less, using less energy for heating or for industries, it doesn't cost users anything, aside from a bit of comfort. Anytime air, land and water need cleanup, it's gonna cost a lot of money because the land & water are holding a lot of pollution that was leftover from many decades/hundreds of years of dumping.

The idiocy is in people who don't know the facts telling people how to live, what to do and where they can go. Like the heads of governments and environmental experts who flew to a recent environmental summit in private jets. And Greta Thunberg, Ethanol, etc.

Some environmental policies are sound. Some are completely ludicrous. I'm going to use an example that we're currently fighting with. A few years back, Californika introduced new rules with regards to what ingredients were allowed in lubricating grease, the intent being to restrict lubricants being used in the manufacturing process of a variety of products. It was to prevent groundwater contamination. A good idea, right? Yep. But then some moron got ahold of the legislation and decided it MUST be applied to all greases used in ALL things mechanical, chiefly automotive. Now the chances of grease moving from a wheel bearing or CV axle on your car and getting into groundwater is so slim that it can't even be calculated. However, they went ahead with the legislation, and several other "green" states followed suit. The end result is that all wheel bearings, tie rod ends, U-joints, CV Axles, etc etc must be manufactured with this particular grease, as spec'ed out by the green states if you want to sell your product into those states.

Since the green states in the US account for almost half of all automotive parts sold in North America, it did not make economic sense to attempt to manufacture one set of parts for the green states and one for everyone else. Unfortunately the grease freezes at temperatures colder than -20, leading to extremely short lifespans of the parts in question. So now a CV Axle lasts 20 or 30000 kms instead of 200,000. Prices have risen on these parts due to warranty claims, and the pollution involved in the manufacture of these parts has increased FAR past what little pollution would have resulted from grease evacuation from your car to the groundwater.

Sorry for the length of my post, but this is what I mean when I talk about environmental idiocy. Ill conceived rules made by people who just don't have the necessary intelligence or knowledge to be making them. It costs North American firms a great deal of money to keep up to some of these rules that should have never made the books in the first place, and it takes away money that could be used to do a proper job of environmental stewardship.

Rod