"We
shouldn't
waste time
trying to
connect the
dots, we need
to eliminate
the dots." —
John
Flanagan

CEO's Can Apply the Lessons of
Just-In-Time to Every Business Function Today

Somewhere in the American heartland an FBI employee ascertains that two men are learning to fly airplanes, but they have no interest in landing them. She sends this information up the chain of command, where it languishes. Similarly, in 1985 an engineer at the Morton Thiokol Company pleaded with his superiors to delay the launch of the Challenger space shuttle. He insisted the freezing temperature at Cape Canaveral could damage the rings in the fuselage. Unfortunately, in both cases, we all know what happened.

Time and again in business, similar circumstances play out. People who have knowledge that could prevent problems, improve performance, or enhance profitability lack the authority to use that information. But there is a proven model of business behavior that empowers front-line people to make decisions that leverage first-hand knowledge: Just-In-Time.

Drawing on decades of hands-on experience at the most senior levels of numerous companies, both here and abroad, John Flanagan reminds us of the fundamental power of JIT and demonstrates convincingly—through lively discussion and engaging examples—that its precepts can be overlaid onto virtually any business process or function and produce radically improved results.

"There are only two things going on in business: making and selling. Everything else is suspect."
        — John P. Flanagan

Co-author of Just-in-Time for the '90s, focused on Japan's Total Quality and Just-In-Time movements.

ABOUT JOHN FLANAGAN

John Flanagan is a business veteran who rose from the factory floor to the executive suite of such companies as Rockwell International, American Optical, and the Bic Pen Company. As a guest of the Japanese government, he witnessed (and then wrote about) the JIT and Total Quality movements at their genesis, in companies such as Toyota, Canon, and Sony. For the past 23 years, in addition to his duties as CEO, he has taught business courses at several universities, most recently Boston College. Currently, as an operating partner for investment banking firms specializing in management buyouts, Mr. Flanagan serves as chairman of various manufacturing concerns. More about John Flanagan...