In 2014, my family relocated from Danville to El Dorado Hills, California, just one year after I decided to shift the focus of Managed Solutions to smart manufacturing endeavors (you can read the entire story starting with “The Adventure Begins”). During our new home search, much of my work supplies were in storage, which forced me to work more resourcefully. When we did find … [Read more...]
FMG No. 05 – By All Means Necessary
Thank you to any and all veteran’s reading this, I appreciate your service. This year we've seen a lot of people struggling and grinding their way through adversity. Recently one of my Manufacturing Industry contacts, Andrew Stackpole, posted a brief but sincere message. His hashtags, and the accompanying photo drew me in: I decided to investigate his art site. When I … [Read more...]
FMG No. 06 – Our Manhattan Project
Today, many of you are likely recovering from a much smaller than usual Thanksgiving Day of food, friends, and family. With that in mind, today is more like a “Two-Minute Gemba.” I recently finished reading "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!", an autobiography by physicist and overall curious character, Richard Feynman. Feynman was involved with the Manhattan Project, an … [Read more...]
FMG No. 07 – Eliminate Bottlenecks
If you hadn’t noticed, it’s been a little while since our “bi-weekly” newsletter landed in your inbox. I am writing this hastily because I didn’t want to miss the chance to wish you very Happy Holidays and all the best starting out your 2021. I actually got derailed in several areas this month. Going into Christmas week, I had a forced upgrade of our phone system (imagine if … [Read more...]
FMG No. 08 – Seeing Is Believing
I have two old notebooks I often carry to customer meetings in which I have spent countless hours writing down ideas and doing “free form” planning and thought exercises. Recently, I came across an old note to myself to “check the beginning of the red notebook for ideas”. It was from a screenshot of a digital Kanban system I used prior to our current platform for project … [Read more...]
FMG No. 09 – Fill Your Head With Good Stuff
Recently, I’ve been thinking a lot about the title of this newsletter, "Fill your head with good stuff." The purveyor of those words is author and speaker, Tim Sanders. I met Tim years ago at a conference in Chicago called “SOBCON” (Successful Online Business). It was a small but mighty conference, lots of business owners and entrepreneurs. It was a place where a guy like … [Read more...]