The Year Ahead

As 2010 ended there were plenty of opportunities to look back. “Best Of” and “Worst Of” lists as well as “Year in Review” articles appeared daily. Opinions varied.

In our world at One Write the year was one of change. It was marked by steps in a new, uncharted direction. Each person here had a little different take on whether it was good or bad.

When a small company like ours has financial success over a fifty-year span of time, the natural reaction is to leave it alone. (“If it’s not broken, don’t fix it!”) So some resistance was to be expected.

But 2010 and the year or so preceding showed us that there is just no way to stay the same and hold your position. We must either improve or we get worse.

Fortunately many of the changes we made yielded immediate benefits. Lean tools like standard work, visual management and employee involvement have given us a much stronger production process. We were able to get through our end-of-the-year rush season in fine fashion. From order entry to delivery, our reshaped work flow performed smoothly and efficiently.

With Continuous Improvement established as our base, we are looking forward to 2011 and all the opportunities that it holds.