In 1990, IndustryWeek magazine established a prestigious new competition, the America's Best Plants Award, designed to recognize and honor the top manufacturing operations in the nation. To date, sixty-two companies―from such well-known names as Hewlett-Packard, Sony Electronics, Steelcase, and Xerox to smaller companies such as Zytec, John Crane Belfab, and Lord Corporation―have earned the illustrious designation of being one of America's Best Plants. 
Now these award-winning plants are profiled in America's Best, a unique reference that takes an in-depth look at leading-edge manufacturing practices. Detailing the individual components of world-class manufacturing, while providing personal experience from the field, America's Best offers practical guidelines that will help managers make strategic decisions regarding their own organizations. The book begins with the nine essential components of world-class manufacturing, their individual make-up, and how they interact with each other. These components―customer focus, quality, agility, employee involvement, strong supplier relations, technology, new product development, green manufacturing, community involvement―come together to create the basis of manufacturing excellence and will serve as a road map for improving your organization, your products, and your people. Profiles of each of the 62 Best Plant winners celebrate individual excellence in the field. Highlighting these profiles are on-site visit reports by IndustryWeek editors; detailed coverage of the many unique programs, tools, and techniques currently in use at each plant; and a listing of contact information for individual plants. Also included is a complete set of the winners' statistical measurements for use in benchmarking your own organization, as well as an assessment survey to help you determine how your plant measures up against the best. Filled with helpful data, advice, "lessons," and firsthand stories from Best Plant leaders and employees, America's Best will be essential reading for managers in executive suites to the shop floor who are charged with the success of their manufacturing organization. "A clear and exciting depiction of the dramatic changes taking place in manufacturing and the innovative approaches used to sustain world-class excellence." ― Jerry J. Jasinowski President, National Association of Manufacturers "Highly readable and packed with relevant examples of what makes the best, best." ― Carla O'Dell, PhD President, American Productivity &amp; Quality Center "A rousing standing ovation for Ted Kinni and the editors of IndustryWeek. America's Best is a benchmark book, and Kinni and colleagues have pulled off an Olympian feat. . . . If you've set a course for excellence, you must read this book." ― Jim Kouzes, coauthor The Leadership Challenge and Credibility, Chairman and CEO The Tom Peters Group/Learning Systems Advanced Filtration Systems, Inc. Air Products &amp; Chemicals, Inc. Allen-Bradley Company Baxter Healthcare Corp. Chesebrough-Pond's USA Co. Cincinnati Milacron, Inc. Coherent, Inc. Continental General Tire, Inc. Copeland Corporation Corning, Inc. Dana Corporation Digital Equipment Corp. Edy's Grand Ice Cream Engelhard Corporation Exxon Chemical Co. Fisher-Rosemount, Inc. Ford Electronics &amp; Refrigeration Corp. Ford Motor Co. The Foxboro Company GE Fanuc Automation NA, Inc. General Electric General Motors General Motors Corp., Cadillac Gilbarco, Inc. Hewlett-Packard Company Honeywell, Inc. IBM Corporation John Crane Belfab Johnson &amp; Johnson Medical, Inc. Kennametal, Inc. Lockheed Martin Corp.

America's Best: IndustryWeek's Guide to World-Class Manufacturing Plants

Business & Money

Kinni, Theodore B.

Industries

wiley

Sure-Fire, Can't-Miss Tips, Techniques, and Ideas for Building Lifelong Customer Loyalty Imagine having the customer-service secrets of the world's most successful businesses right at your fingertips. With this book you can! Authors Donna Greiner and Theodore Kinni spent five years uncovering how Nordstrom, Southwest Airlines, Ritz-Carlton, American Express, and other world-class companies keep their customers for life. The result is 1,001 timely, entertaining, and brilliantly inventive customer-retention ideas. Inside, you'll discover the secrets to: ·Creating products/services tailored to your customers' needs ·Recognizing and rewarding your most profitable trophy customers ·Using three kinds of guarantees to build customer trust ·Turning first-time customers into frequent buyers ·And much more!

1,001 Ways to Keep Customers Coming Back: WOW Ideas That Make Customers Happy and Will Increase Your Bottom Line

Greiner, Donna

Management & Leadership

Crown Business

Theodore B. Kinni Editor of The Business Reader Review, a free electronic newsletter of capsule reviews of new business books. Al Ries Voted one of the top 100 most influential public relations people in the 20th century by PR Week. Savvy business people and investors around the world are asking, what do we have to do today to prosper tomorrow, next month, next year? That’s the question that started Al Ries and Theodore Kinni working on Future Focus, the book that answers the question: what will it take to succeed in business in the next century and new millennium? They found the answers among twenty-one focused, innovative, and protean companies. Future Focus explores each of these 21 companies in turn. Each company is introduced by a quote from one of its leaders, an Executive Snapshot that offers a fast insight into the strategic vision of the company. What can you learn from Future Focus? There are many practical business lessons in the book. They revolve around four major themes: 21st century success is focused. Almost all of the Future Focus 21 have flirted with diversification. Almost all have lost money on the outside ventures and are extremely focused as of today. Those that continue to operate outside their core businesses are usually in related businesses and are building a vertically integrated operation. The lesson: Get and stay focused. 21st century success is innovative. The Future Focus 21 are innovators. They are busy searching out original products and services or they are busy introducing existing products and services in markets that have never seen them before. Either way, they are innovators in the marketplace. The lesson: Be Innovative. 21st century success is global. With a single exception, each company in the Future Focus 21 is a global business and is trying to get more global. A well-focused company replaces the urge to diversify its businesses with the drive to diversify its markets. The lesson: Go global. 21st century success has speed bumps. There isn’t a single, sustained upward ride in any of the Future Focus histories. Sooner or later, a competitor beats you to the next best thing or the bottom drops out of your customer’s market or the whole economy heads south for a breather. The lesson: Be prepared for hard times.

Future Focus: How 21 Companies are Capturing 21st Century Success

Ries, Al

Economics

Capstone

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