Slide, Freefall, Collapse . . . Or, None Of The Above

A good friend of many years was recently bemoaning what he sees as the continuing decline of manufacturing in the US.  His biggest complaint was that, every time a plant closes, its engineers hit the streets newly badged as "lean" consultants.

"Lean" indeed - a larger population trying to capture bigger pieces of a shrinking pie.

I don't have the data to challenge his contentions.  Clearly, a lot of manufacturiung has left our shores over the past couple of decades.  But, we still manufacture many things, although perhaps not on the scale of what General Motors plants used to look like.  Certainly not at the employment and production levels of twenty years ago.  That said, we're still in the early stages of in-shoring and right-shoring movements, and productivity - if not production - continues to climb throughout the sector.

It's possible that my morose amigo has seen his consulting and training business shrink because, at least in part, of other factors.  More and better-educated and better-trained engineers and operators.  Radical shifts in learning and knowledge transfer paradigms.  Tired branding and terminology.

And maybe - just maybe - more companies are learning from one another in close relationships, and have focused, targeted, and empathetic partners to help them improve performance.  Or perhaps they are getting help from subject matter experts with different styles, with different kinds of client relationships, and with different approaches to salvation that go beyond traditional projects and programs.

Seems to me that part of staying in the game - and ahead of the pack - in the 21st century is continual reinvention . . . within a supply chain, within a company, within a product, and within oneself.  I'm just sayin' . . .