Companies and organizations are always looking for ways to increase efficiency. One of the most popular methods is lean production, originally derived from the Toyota Production System. In lean philosophy, resources are expended only to create value for the end-user — anything else is considered wasteful.
Many organizations use lean principles in manufacturing and management with great success. Many lean principles...
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Posted in: business writing
Yes, if you value consistency and efficiency.
Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) describe in detail the practices, processes, and steps required to repeatedly deliver a desired outcome. They’re used in nearly every type of business, organization, and agency — no matter the size.
Companies in regulated industries need SOPs to demonstrate compliance with federal mandates. Small and midsized businesses...
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Most of us are very adept at problem-solving--we solve problems every day, from small problems such as figuring out the best route to take to work to larger issues, such as dealing with difficult people. In fact, most of us are so good at solving problems that we may not even realize when we're actively involved in that problem-solving mode! If we are so good at solving problems, why are there so many of us...
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Too many writers (and non-writers) we've worked with over the years fail to use appropriate or effective topic sentences. As you may recall from seventh grade grammar, a topic sentence tells readers what to expect from a paragraph. While the topic sentence doesn't have to be the first sentence in a paragraph, many readers expect it to be and take that first sentence as their "cue" in terms of what the...
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popupPositivity in WritingSimplicity and Positivity Key to Effective Technical, Business, and Scientific Writing
In verbal communication, less is expressed in words than in the expression, tone, and emotion conveyed by the speaker. Verbal skills come naturally; on the other hand, developing effective written communication skills can take years and quite a bit of training. Below are two simple, yet effective,...
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