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Reduction of growth rates, increasing wages and energy prices mean more and more negative headlines regarding China’s economic situation. According to the European Chamber of Commerce, a fifth of all companies are already reconsidering their investments in China.

As manufacturers nurse their wounds after the worst recession since the 1930s, many are taking a long, hard look at their business models and making some changes. For many companies, this has meant increasing the proportion of revenue generated by non-traditional activities such as service provision. For others, the soul searching has prompted a move from high-volume goods to high-value products.

Interview with Dr. Jeffrey K. Liker 1) Can you tell us something about the role of leaders at Toyota? – we have learned that they should be mentors. What exactly happens at Toyota in terms of leadership? The most important role of a leader at Toyota is developing others.

In order to be competitive on saturated markets, many manufacturers (OEM) often find only one solution: they expand their range of products with new product variants thus trying to completely exhaust niches. Only few of them, however, have a reasonable variant and complexity management.

Starting May 2007, MAHLE Filters in Murfreesboro (MFMB) began working with Staufen AG, a consulting firm out of Germany, to implement Lean Manufacturing. The goal is to establish worls-class production systems within MFMB. Initially this project is focusing on carbon canister production in Murfreesboro; however this philosophy will be rolled out plant-wide in 2008.