Many service businesses appear to be operating efficiently enough. But are they really, having been in the service business and worked along side the Manufacturing Sectors of many an industry, it is amazing the insight into true efficiency one can get.

For instance an interesting thought exercise is to study and apply the Finite Capacity Scheduling Models of manufacturing to a service business. I did this for my company and saw its many cross over uses in the Mobile Car Washing service sector. Routing is similar to routing of parts, scheduling is almost exactly the same as scheduling manufacturing runs of products to be made. Washing the actual car is a process. There is a right way, a wrong way and there is the most efficient way using the least amount of energy. We searched for it, found it, practiced it, refined it and then taught it. You can do this exercise to, pick any service company and try it.

What other human endeavors can learn from manufacturing? Well certainly processes of efficiency and perfection apply to other things such as Net-Centric Systems, delivery, sports, military, distribution, energy, medicine, government and even Space. It is all the same, name of the game is efficiency and no "Screw Ups" a bit like NASA, hard to have a "do over" when Murphy strikes? When trapped in linear time, you cannot reset the simulator in the current paradigm of the life experience, YET. Please be thinking here.

"Lance Winslow" - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/

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