About Michel Baudin

Consultant, trainer, author on Lean Manufacturing

Posts by Michel Baudin:

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Apr 10 2023

The Possession of Data

Since the turn of the 21st century, the possession of data has become a greater source of economic power than ever before, dwarfing, in particular, analytics. It’s data about us humans, not about the physical world: our demographic segment, where we live, what we buy, our opinions, and our relationships.

This is a development that manufacturing companies have not been leading. To survive this disruption, their managers need to think more deeply about data, how they can collect it, and what they can do with it to stay competitive.

Continue reading…

By • Information Technology • 2 • Tags: , , , , , ,

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Mar 31 2023

Using videos to improve operations | Part 9 – Updates

It’s been 110 years since Frank Gilbreth first used film cameras to improve processes, 36 years since Kei Abe taught me how to do it with VHS, and six years since my last post about videos. Yet the number of manufacturing companies leveraging this tool remains minuscule. The technical hurdles are long gone, but the human ones are still in place. Managers must make it a priority to make the work easier for operators, and operators need to trust management not to use videos against them. My 2nd post on this subject was about management preparation. It’s doable, if not easy.

This post focuses on the easy part: technical issues. This is not to ignore the hard stuff but to address a few recent challenges. Smartphone cameras, by default, now generate high-definition video files so large that they impede analysis. It is, therefore, a good idea to work with lower resolutions. The software to help with time studies based on video has evolved too, and I am including introductions to a few currently available packages. Readers are invited to share their experiences with these or other tools.

Continue reading…

By • Tools • 1 • Tags: , ,

QualityQuantityTradeoff

Mar 5 2023

Quality in a Manufacturing System

The literature on Quality does not dwell on its interactions with other components of a manufacturing system, like Production, Engineering, Production Control/Logistics, or Supply Chains. As a consequence, it is missing out on key relationships that affect the value of quality improvement.

Continue reading…

By • Management • 4 • Tags: , , ,

ChatGPT about "Michel Baudin"

Feb 26 2023

Wrong things ChatGPT says about me

What ChatGPT says about me is generally flattering but inaccurate and inconsistent. Ask multiple times and you get different wrong answers. I find it disturbing that it credits me for things I didn’t do. It also omits some I have done, which makes me wonder to whom ChatGPT attributes them. Here are a few mistakes I found in four successive versions:

  • “Baudin is the author of several books […], including […] Lean Work Design.” Sorry, I never wrote a book called “Lean Work Design.” Instead, I wrote Introduction to Manufacturing (2022), Working with Machines (2007), Lean Logistics (2005), Lean Assembly (2002), and Manufacturing Systems Analysis (1990).
  • “He has over 30 years of experience…” 42 years is the number.
  • “Baudin began his career at Hewlett-Packard…” Nope. I started out at Fairchild. Years later, Hewlett-Packard was a consulting client, but I never was an employee.
  • “his own consulting firm, Baudin Associates.” Wrong. I never had a firm by that name. It was MMTI, and then The Takt Times Group.
  • “He has also served as a professor of Lean manufacturing at the California State University, Chico.” I have never set foot in Chico. I have taught extension courses at UC Berkeley, the University of Dayton, the Hong Kong Productivity Council, and the University of Buckingham, but not Chico State.
  • “Baudin has taught courses […] at several universities, including […] MIT, and Stanford…” No, I never did.
  • “He is currently a professor at Institut Mines-Télécom Business School in France.” No.
  • “Baudin is a graduate of Ecole Centrale Paris.” No, it’s Mines-ParisTech, not Centrale.
  • “He holds a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley.” I don’t have a Ph.D.
  • “He has worked as a researcher at several institutions, including the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the French National Institute for Industrial Environment and Risks.” I never worked at either of these places. I did research early in my career, at the Hahn-Meitner Institute in Berlin, Germany, Mines-ParisTech in Fontainebleau, France, and the University of Tokyo, Japan.
  • “Baudin has also served as a consultant for a variety of companies, including Toyota, Ford,…” No. I never did any work for either. In the auto industry, I did some work for Honda, Renault, and GM, but neither Toyota nor Ford.

In other words, #ChatGPT is looser with facts than any journalist I have ever read. 

 

By • Technology • 6 • Tags:

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Dec 22 2022

Introduction to Manufacturing — First Print Copies

As co-author of Introduction to Manufacturing, I received the first print copies with trepidation::

  1. Did they print it on good paper?
  2. Does the book stay open flat without paperweights on each side?
  3. Are all the numbers and cross-references accurate?
  4. Are the pictures sharp and the colors vivid?
  5. …

For the paperback edition, so far, it’s yes on all counts. Here is a sample of a page spread:

Introduction to Manufacturing sample spread

The only elements I found missing are three endorsements of Introduction to Manufacturing that we greatly appreciate:

  • “This superb book explains how to design, manage, and improve manufacturing operations. Based on their deep expertise, Baudin and Netland compellingly present a great resource of manufacturing knowledge – useful for both novices and experts.“ – – Charles H. Fine, Chrysler LGO Professor of Management, MIT Sloan School of Management
  • “Baudin and Netland’s comprehensive text serves as an important and timely reminder that manufacturing remains as important in a world of ubiquitous digitalization, as it ever has been.“ – Matthias Holweg, Professor and American Standard Companies Chair of Operations Management, Saïd Business School, University of Oxford.
  • “This is the first book of its kind, situated at the nexus of manufacturing, industrial engineering, and management – precisely what students and organizations need.“ – Adedeji Badiru, Professor and Dean of Graduate School of Engineering and Management, Air Force Institute of Technology.

We hope to see them in the next print run.

#introductiontomanufacturing, #manufacturing

 

 

 

 

By • Announcements • 8 • Tags: ,

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Dec 17 2022

The Skills Matrix

Several sites on the Van of Nerds tour in France in 9/22 maintain skills matrices on the shop floor. It means that the value of the skills matrix is widely known. Several questions must be answered to make it effective:

  1. The size of the teams represented in one posted matrix.
  2. The types of skills that should be in the matrix.
  3. The uses of this tool in daily operations.
  4. The integration of this tool with Human Resources.

Continue reading…

By • Van of Nerds • 6 • Tags: , , ,

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