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[David Dodd]

For the past several months, the Lean Manufacturing forum has been relatively quiet. There are, of course, several possible explanations for this inactivity. Perhaps the recession has caused many printers to shift into "survival" mode and perceive that there are more urgent issues than process improvement. Or perhaps printing company leaders and managers are simply too busy these days to take an active role in the forum.

That being said, I participate in a number of lean discussion forums, and I have not noticed a significant drop-off in activity in those forums. So, I'd like to ask a few basic questions. Is continuous process improvement (whether using lean, six sigma, theory of constraints, or another process improvement methodology) seen by printers as an important business priority? If so, are printers actually implementing process improvement programs? If printers do not view continuous process improvement as important to business success, why not? Such a view would seem to put printers out of step with leading companies in a wide variety of industries. And finally, what should be done to increase the value of this forum to both readers and participants?

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and suggestions.