Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1372612
50 PCB007 MAGAZINE I MAY 2021 Feature Article by Nolan Johnson I-CONNECT007 Whether a piece of content is fiction or nonfiction, it's still easy for it to be relevant to the general populace. Commentary on true current events, for example, makes for good reading while the news is fresh. But such work has an expiration, a point at which it is no longer meaningful. However, when a piece of content—say, a movie or a novel— continues to be relevant well past its cre- ation, it's almost always because the themes explored are timeless and true. It is that mo- ment when content bridges the gap and be- comes art. What do we call, then, a piece of insightful nonfiction that bridges that gap, maintaining its relevance for more than 35 years? Well, the pragmatist may simply deign to call that content "useful." World Class Manufacturing: e Lessons of Simplicity Applied by Richard J. Schonberger was published in 1986 as part of the World Class Manufacturing (WCM) vanguard of the time. And yet, a careful read shows that even though many processes have changed, there are fundamental thought patterns that per- sist in electronics manufacturing. No wonder, then, that Calumet's Todd Brassard refers to this resource when discussing process excel- lence elsewhere in this issue. But what is WCM? As written in the Indus- tryWeek article, "World Class Manufacturing Methodology Drives Improvement at Case New Holland" [1] : "Like Lean, WCM actively engages all employ- ees in the continuous-improvement process and is aimed at driving out waste and production loss- es in the drive for world-class performance... e WCM methodology may be familiar to con- tinuous-improvement personnel in the automo- tive industry." 'World-Class Manufacturing' A Review of: