Technology issues that concern the urban minority community
The New FICO System – FICO 08.
Well, it looks like even the folks over at Fair Issacs has to adjust to the market downturn. Funny how things change when bad things happen to certain people. They must be taking their cues from Microsoft. Why not FICO 2.0.3.4?
It’s a shame that many in the press have sold their souls to corporate interest, otherwise they would inform the public about truths with the struggles of the auto industry and stop blaming organized labor for their ills. I find it ironic that NBC who produced a documentary called “If Japan can, why can’t we?” does not mention anything about Dr. Deming’s work, but instead continually push the issue of high labor cost being the main issue for the failure of the Big 3. I have a new interpretation of the adage, “Hindsight is 20/20.” Sometimes to see the present clearly, you have to look at the past. I spend a lot of time reading journals and visiting the Government Accountability Office website. One article in particular talks about the issue of foreign investment into the country in the 80’s from Japan to not only build plants, but parts suppliers also.
One of Deming’s philosophy’s of quality management stated that you must first understand the “process” of what you are doing, or you really don’t know “what” you are doing. According to Deming, the process of manufacturing existed far beyond the worker on the assembly line. Management must take ownership of the parts of the process that are beyond the control of the worker such as parts suppliers. He believed that companies must not base the relationship of the supplier strictly on being the cheapest. The auto industry had the nasty habit of trying to build a car and them inspect it for quality. Deming stressed that quality must be everyone’s responsibility from the floor to the boardroom and that it must be continuous and every improving.
What the media fails to tell you is that US automakers and their Japanese counterparts do not manufacture cars the same way. The Japanese were admired for their efficiency, but that is because their “process” was more refined than the US companies. Deming’s philosophy also included creating an atmosphere of collaboration. The parts companies were part of the actual design of the cars instead of receiving engineering drawings saying, “Build this!” as they did in America. Parts manufacturers were also strongly encourage to reduce variables that caused them to create defective parts and constantly make the process better each time.
The Japanese used the “Just In Time” method which meant creating just enough parts needed for the cars being produced at the time and bringing the parts to the floor “just in time” for them to be assembled in the car. The parts were also pre-assembled into sections. For instance, a whole dash assembly may be brought to the floor instead of installing all of the parts individually for the dash on the assembly line. The “just in time” method reduced inventory cost. The parts suppliers knew that not having the parts right when it was time to assemble them could greatly effect the assembly process due to the absence of backups, therefore parts manufacturers had to get it right every time.
Enter the 80’s. The foreign car makers were starting to take over, so the automakers and their congressional allies cried foul. Japan tied one hand behind its back and voluntarily reduced the number of cars that it imported to the US. Instead of the US companies working to refine their process of manufacturing, they went the “if you can’t be ‘em, join ‘em” route. They began to partner with the Japanese companies to produce vehicles. Do you remember the “Geo” line of cars? This was a joint venture between Toyota and GM if you call slapping your name of the vehicle after it comes of the line a joint venture.
What really took the automakers under was parts, and the irony was that we could have had the Japanese by their “lug nuts” in this area, but since many of the automakers were still housing their own parts departments and the fact that the quality level was no where near the foreign companies, we had to play second fiddle, again. We could not supply the foreign car makers with parts because we were not familiar with building sections of the car and delivering them just in time to the line with little or no defects. In all honesty, we did not stand a chance with their refined process that took decades in the making. We did not understand the process! Some parts manufacturers developed successful relationships with the foreign companies only after they adjusted to the rigors of Deming’s quality control process. The cost associated with making the cars came more from the lack of quality control and lack of efficient manufacturing processes. The working suffered during this time period because many of the the US car makers stopped making parts and started using the foreign car parts makers because the quality was better and cheaper.
Deming was also a strong believer in making the worker feel good about his job, creating an atmosphere that cause workers to produce quality which fostered a since of pride in what they do. When people feel as though their work means something and that it is obvious that management sees them as an extremely needed part in the process, you don’t need a union. When foreign car makers bring outsourced work back into the company to keep people working instead of kicking them to the curve as your first solution to a slow down, you don’t need a union.
For more information on this subject, go spend time over at the Government Accountability Office website. www.gao.gov Here is more information about the automakers and parts manufacturers.
Next I will tell what happened when the US companies discovered Deming.
It’s not what you think. The Americans had been warned decades ago. You’d be surprised who helped them.
Edward Deming Pt. I
Arkansas Blog: The news in Conway
“From John Williams, who was there: No specifics on the nature of the jobs, but Gov. Mike Beebe said many will pay $40,000 a year to start and perhaps more. Employees will need to be “IT literate” and have other skills.”
Sounds like IC3 to me. If you need help with IC3 training call me.
Alltel Sale to Verizon Looks Likely – NYTimes.com
Chad declined to comment. The wizard, however, said he saw this coming in his crystal ball and bought shares of Verizon. The SEC is investigating. What did he know and when did he know it. LOL
Remember the 90’s. Microsoft went to court because they were being accused of monopolistic behavior. Shutting out Netscape from the other computer vendors so that Internet Explorer could be dominate all because they were getting spanked by Netscape. Microsoft fired back by doing a little digital slight of hand. They made it so that Windows Explorer and Internet Explorer were the same thing. They then went to the government and said that Internet Explorer was part of the operating system thus could not be removed from Windows. Microsoft was spanked on the wrist and thus told to play nice with the other kids. Dominating the PC market, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Enter Windows Vista. Microsoft’s new knight in shining armor, or so they thought. This huge upgrade caused people to buy a brand new computer just to run the darn thing, only to find out that alot of the ooo’s and aaah’s was eye candy. Plagued with compatibility problems and and security snafus and such, Microsoft released a service pack. You know what everybody else in the tech industry calls an update. The service pack was huge like its parent program; it should have been called Vista 2.0.
XP, however, has matured to the point that everyone that has not moved to Apple or Linux is satisfied. Microsoft says no. Not only do you need Vista, you must get Vista while holding an ax over the head of WinXp. The only different between now and the 90’s is that Microsoft is only player in the game. They are being a monopoly against themselves. They competing against themselves and losing, and they don’t get it. If ain’t that broke, don’t build another that you can’t fix!
On a recent podcast, I talked about the IC3 Certification. IC3 stands for Internet and Computing Core Certification. This a certification for digital literacy. The business community is using this certification for hiring and promotions. If you are between careers, a high school graduate, college graduate or looking to improve your skills on in the workplace, you should seriously consider getting this certification. Certiport is the testing facilitator and can guide you to a test center in your area. There is a cost for the exam, but it is worth the investment. I just finished my exams, and proud to announce that I am IC3 certified. I am also in the process of obtaining my certification as a Authorized Certiport Instructor.
Don’t hesitate, get your today!