TABLE OF CONTENTS "Whether or not the standard of living made possible by mass production and in turn by mass circulation, is supported by and filled with the work of us hucksters, I guess is something that only history can decide."
Leo Burnett , advertising executive, 1891 1971
This chapter presents the case for process innovation. The relevance and application of process innovation are detailed in several examples, from the classic Henry Ford assembly line to Wal-Mart and McDonald's. There are estimates suggesting that process innovations are responsible for fully one-half of the $2 trillion U.S. economy. Certainly they are worth looking at in detail.
Process innovation is defined as the area of process design that transcends the current state of the art. Henry Ford's work in the automobile industry is the perfect example of process innovation. Henry Ford used process innovation to design and fabricate parts that were interchangeable and easily assembled in a timed fashion on an assembly line. Ford created the assembly line method of fabrication. This method disrupted the established, individually hand-built method of the day. Ford further innovated the assembly line by timing the process so it had a logical flow. Employees performed one operation all day and became experts at their operation. The parts arrived and were assembled to the frame, and the frame grew to become a car all in one sophisticated, choreographed dance.
Ford innovated vertically in his gigantic factory, the Rouge Plant. This manufacturing plant warrants an entire book alone to describe the...
