This month's CBR focuses on the issue of "visibility," which our IT systems are supposed to provide for us. Visibility may not be the first thing that comes to mind when people think about the benefits of computerization. But it is, in fact, extremely important -- and for more reasons than the costs of just-in-case inventory. Visibility into operations provides a basis for better decisionmaking and allows us to service our customers more promptly.

At the US automaker where I once worked, assembly plant shifts were scheduled back to back. If one shift finished at 3:00 pm, another was hard at work by 3:30. The plants' managers pushed hard to meet production quotas while minimizing input costs by keeping the line going pretty much all the time. The underlying productivity arithmetic is basic to any manager's: maximize output (cars), minimize inputs (labor, electricity to run the machines, etc.). Interestingly, the world's reigning champ of manufacturing, Toyota, doesn't follow this logic.