MANUFACTURING OPERATIONS
• Under normal economic conditions, your material plans would be fine, but in this disinflationary environment we need more. Work with executive A to crisp up your plans. You have a lot of opportunity
here. I would like your targets to be more aggressive.

• Your inventory target is not aggressive enough. Work with executives A and B to determine your inventory entitlement and develop a more credible plan with aggressive targets. Keep in mind that you can’t reduce inventories without reducing lead times. A significant reduction is needed in Q4 to achieve the cash flow target.

• I would like you to put more focus on Six Sigma projects. Let’s be sure we are realizing the value of the black-belt/green-belt resources.

• We have had success driving productivity at product line B, but it has been at the expense of working cap-ital. Figure out how we can drive productivity using less working capital.

1999 AOP TARGETS
Here are your revised targets (based on assumptions that are consistent with your plan submission):

Overall you had a great AOP presentation last week. It was obvious that manufacturing component A has a good understanding of its businesses. I would like to thank you and your team for all the hard work. Let’s get back together on December 9 to discuss the specifics of how we will achieve the targets as well as the alternatives for our D, E, and F businesses.

Two other parts of follow-through are contingency plans and quarterly reviews.

Taken from: Execution The discipline of Getting things Done