Manufacturing Capacity as a Commodity

Excess capacity in an automobile plant at Ford, Chrysler, Toyota, GM, and Honda is a commodity and those who study finite capacity scheduling modules can readily see the possibilities for increased production and that means profit. Einstein said time is relative, that is true, time is relative, manipulating commodity theoretical models allows companies to see thru time and keep costs and purchases on an even keel without the problems of relative time. Thus the commodity can be simplified to price/cost models. The commodity is still relative to fluctuations in currency, weather, and supply and demand. There is no reason a company like Ford cannot take those plants, which have closed and use them to make something else. Instead, they ran their plants at maximum capacity or close to it, and built lots of cars, which are now in the dealers or on their way to the dealers and there is no need to run the plants now sense there are enough cars built. If the cars become scarce, then the price goes up. As with anything; supply and demand. Are cars a commodity? It appears they are, but more so the time in the excess capacity in the factories is the real commodity although from a purely conceptual standpoint, both the time and the cars are commodities.

Excess capacity also occurs in many other industries, such as electricity, water, oil, mainframe time, bandwidth, etc. When deregulation came to the California energy market we saw an interesting thing occur. People would buy blocks of kilowatt-hours from the existing energy companies who made electricity. They had to make this available to anyone. So entrepreneurs Bought lots of it and then they sold it to others wishing to buy it. Commodity theory is fun to study, because it is everywhere in our civilization, think about it.

"Lance Winslow" - If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs

---

Training Managers and New Trainers

Training managers use many of the same interpersonal and analytical... Read More

Management Coaching to Improve Relationships with Work Associates

As a recent employee to your job, you are becoming... Read More

Ten Secrets of Super Successful Meeting Planners

Whoever said that being a meeting planner was easy, lied!... Read More

What are Your Best Practices?

Best Practices StudiesThese studies can be defined as inquiries into... Read More

The Seven Cs: Partnership Danger Signs - Competitive, Not Complementary Action

A series of articles exploring the seven critical areas that... Read More

Never Punish Yourself or Others for Failures

If you want to find success in various ramifications, be... Read More

Innovation Management ? Eliciting Dominant Ideas

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation... Read More

Take Control of Your Paper in 3 Easy Steps

Do you have piles of paper on your desk. Many... Read More

Group Decision Making : Are the Decisions Really Made by the Group?

GROUP DECISION-MAKING: Many managers feel they are well-versed in areas... Read More

Creativity and Innovation Management in Conservative, Staid Organisations

Conservative and staid organisations generally have a harder time implementing... Read More

Is Your Company in Need of Family Therapy?

How Companies Are Like FamiliesLike a family, a company is... Read More

Internal Communication: 12 Essential Elements

There are 12 essential elements of a successful internal communications... Read More

Think Twice Before Selling ROI

When we're selling to business people, our value proposition has... Read More

Quick Tip - Effective Meetings Begin With Goals

Goals are critically important for the success of a meeting.... Read More

Executive Performance -- Whos to Blame for Incompetent Managers?

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal raised the... Read More

Management Development - Micromanagement Works!

Getting into the detail of everything each of your people... Read More

Keeping Team Meetings Vibrant

Meetings can be the life-blood of an organisation or the... Read More

How to Dodge Distribution Difficulties

It happened again. I ran into an old friend while... Read More

Turbo Charge Your Career With The Most Powerful Leadership Tool Of All: The Leadership Talk: Part 1

Leaders speak 15 to 20 times daily. You speak at... Read More

Employee Retention: Keeping the People Who Keep You in Business

The retention of highly skilled knowledge workers is one of... Read More

Communication, Feedback, and Participation: Three Easy Tidbits For Smarter Business

On communication: One of the biggest strains on the communication... Read More

Einstein - Definition of Insanity

Insanity in the Sign & Graphics IndustryEinstein's DefinitionAlbert Einstein once... Read More

MANAGING CRISIS; when you?re too good at it

When you are acclaimed for excellence during times of crisis... Read More

5 Tips For Creating Great Jobs

1) Create A Powerful "Mission Statement"-When your business mission is... Read More

Setting Direction Within an Organization

FINDING DIRECTION: An organization can't succeed without direction. Direction means... Read More

Survival of the Fittest: The Road to Human Extinction

I was watching a TV program some months ago about... Read More

Innovation, Idea Selection, Valuation

There is no sure fire route to commercial success, but... Read More

Hire Winners: Ask the Right Questions

How do you as a manager, supervisor or team leader... Read More

Tales from the Corporate Frontlines: Employee Ideas Achieve Work Life Balance

This article relates to the Work/Life Balance competency, which investigates... Read More

The Top 10 Things They Don?t Teach You In Business School

Here are 10 subjects that academia should be teaching their... Read More

Employee Retention: Five Leadership Fundamentals

Are your management practices on the right track? Retaining your... Read More

Gift Giving for Business a Major Headache

Corporate gifting is a big headache for most business owners;... Read More

Medical Malpractice: Three Myths That Cost Your Hospital Millions

What's the use?Nothing you do will hold down the cost... Read More