They Just Don't Get It!

Foreword by Jack Stack I admit I'm biased toward manufacturing---it's in my blood. My father worked in heavy manufacturing for more than thirty-five years, and I've been part of it myself since November of 1968. My father had a significant influence on me because he was a measurement guy. He was a time study engineer, a cost accountant, and eventually ran a major welding organization before moving into supply chain. He measured everything---poker, horse racing, even my on-base percentage when I played baseball. That focus on measurement shaped my life. Numbers have always guided me, and they ultimately carried me into the CEO chair, where I came to understand the financial ratios of business. In my 50 years in manufacturing, I watched its contribution to GDP decline---until recently. Today, there's renewed conversation about making manufacturing great again. We're talking about the need to make things, to rebuild a rising middle class, to become more independent.

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