Manufacturer's Library

Making It in America: Proven Paths to Success from 50 Top Companies, by Jerry Jasinowski and Robert Hamrin, Simon & Schuster, 350 pages, $25, ISBN 0-671-50756-7

While doom-and-gloomers were predicting the demise of manufacturing in the U.S., American industry achieved a remarkable turnaround that restored its status as the world's leading industrial producer. This book takes an in-depth look at the comeback of American manufacturing. It showcases 10 paths to success followed by 50 top companies, such as Motorola, Whirlpool and Xerox, that can help put any business on its own customized path to success.

What is really galvanizing the American business community today, according to the authors, is the dynamic tension between two powerful forces - a renewed commitment to fundamental values and a spirit of innovation to respond to the fast-changing needs of the marketplace. The authors analyze the success stories of 50 companies at the forefront of this renaissance, including large, yet constantly innovating companies such as Intel, Rubbermaid and 3M, as well as energetic smaller companies such as Cannondale, Kingston Technology and Will-Burt.

Johnsonville Foods' employee empowerment initiative, for instance, resulted in a 300% productivity increase (Success Path # 1: Empower Employees); Dell Computer's commitment to customized service and satisfied customers resulted in 70% of its buyers becoming repeat customers (Path # 4: Exceed Customer Expectations); and Wadia Digital's focus on exports led to 70-80% of its revenues coming from exports in each of its first five years (Path # 6: Go Global).

Jasinowski is president of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) (Washington, D.C.), and Hamrin is an independent economic consultant and advisor to NAM.

Agile Competitors and Virtual Organizations: Strategies for Enriching the Customer, by Steven L. Goldman, Roger N. Nagel and Kenneth Preiss, Van Nostrand Reinhold, 414 pages, price TBA, ISBN 0-442-01903-3

How can businesses flourish in the face of rapid change and intensifying global competition? Why do tried-and-true competitive strategies of the past 100 years consistently fail to win market share and profits today? This book addresses these issues, and takes a comprehensive look at how rules have changed.

Real-world examples are used to describe what it takes for companies and individuals to become "agile" - how they can thrive in a competitive environment of constant, unpredictable change.

The book is the product of the authors' extensive research in cooperation with industry and government leaders that resulted in the report, 21st Century Manufacturing Enterprise Strategy.

The book covers:

The strategic objectives of agile competition and how to use them to advantage.
How new organizational structures and a focus on core competencies can enrich customers and producers.
Strategic principles for using the virtual organization concept to enhance the profitability of a company's operations.
The new relationships among marketing, design and product development that are preconditions for marketplace success.
How people and information have become the differentiators of successful companies and the traits required to maximize the impact of people and information on a company's bottom line.

The authors are participants in the Agility Forum, based at Lehigh University.

Click here to return to Table of Contents for the Intelligent Manufacturing August issue.