The
Newsletter of Lean Manufacturing & Factory Science
19
August
2004
www.strategosinc.com
Long-Range
Site Planning
Seeing
Through The Fog of The Future
Companies
may occupy a site for decades and, occasionally, centuries.
Through such periods, processes, products and the external environment
drastically change. But the buildings and features are (mostly) permanent.
The challenge for facility planners is to design
permanent sites for an unclear and uncertain future.
Site
planning involves strategic issues that affect a company's
success-- fundamentally; on many levels; in many ways. Facilities can be a
strategic asset or a millstone.
Fog
and uncertainty are not good reasons to forego site planning. There
are a surprising number of known factors (or, at least, probabilities) if
the issues are framed properly. Moreover, there are ways to cope with
much of the uncertainty.
Long-range
site planning requires systematic, analytical
methods. It also requires a personal temperament
that is comfortable with ambiguity and uncertainty. Chapter 6
from my book, "Facilities &
Workplace Design," provides the methods; the reader must
provide the temperament. This book is available as a free
PDF download.
Our
new web pages on
Site Planning also have examples of successful site plans that used
our methods. I hope you find these web pages and my book useful.
All
The Best,
Quarterman
Lee
You
may forward Lean Briefing to colleagues or use it in your publication.
Please do so in its entirety. ©2004 Strategos, Inc.
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