Abstract: The session will open with Doc explaining the case for Compression and why we need to migrate toward a regenerative economy. There being more than a dozen “threats” to our present way of life in industrial economies, we are reaching the limits of economic expansion as we have known it.

What would a regenerative economy look like? By definition, we need to function so that we preserve ecological health as well as our own health. Quality in that context covers a broad scope – quality for all stakeholders, one of which is ecology. (The system would need to track a number of external measurements besides those for how well we are doing as either manufacturers or user-customers.)

The session will end by participants in dialog groups imagining what a quality system might be like in such a new world.

(This session will dig down into questions 5 and 6 from the morning keynote.)

Biography: Robert Hall is Professor Emeritus of Operations Management, Kelley School of Business, Indiana University. Early in his career as a chemical engineer he worked for Eli Lilly and Union Carbide. In 1985 he helped found the Association for Manufacturing Excellence, and for 22 years and was Editor-in-chief of its publication, Target.  In 2002 he was honored as the first recipient of AME’s lifetime achievement award. In 2006 he received the Gold Medal for lifetime achievement from the Society of Manufacturing Engineers. 

“Doc,” as he in known in industry, was one of the first examiners for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.  He was a judge for the Pace Award (for innovation among auto industry suppliers). He helped design Industry Week’s America’s 10 Best Plants Awards, and was an examiner for many years. And he helped design the Association for Manufacturing Excellence Best Company awards.

In the 1970s Doc began to compare American and Japanese manufacturing. In 1983 he wrote Zero Inventories, one of the first books detailing lean operations. But lean is more than techniques, so he moved on to study leadership and culture in organizations exhibiting excellent operational performance.  In 1990 he edited the translation of Manufacturing 21, a Japanese projection that catalyzed American programs to develop “agile manufacturing,” “next-generation manufacturing,” and that pointed toward environmental sustainability. He combines long-term vision with pragmatism.

In 1992 Doc wrote The Soul of the Enterprise, which foreshadowed his latest book, Compression, which projects that the challenges of the 21^st century are so much more comprehensive than the challenges of the 20^th century that they require us to fundamentally rethink what we do and why. He now chairman of the Compression Institute, an organization with a plan to live better while using far fewer natural resources. Our biggest challenges are not technical. Our biggest challenges are us.

Contact: "Doc" can be reached by e-mail at doc@compression.org for additional information about this Weekend Conference session.

Website: www.compression.org

Blog: www.compression.org/blog/