Technology is the best line of defense in surviving a prolonged and deep recession, says Russ Cereola, as it provides the foundation from which key employees make decisions that affect the bottom line. For many businesses, 2009 and 2010 will be financially troublesome and significantly less profitable than previous years. In fact, many companies will not survive what appears to be a deep and prolonged recession.

The Florida Department of Transportation is getting a rare glimpse into the world of vertical construction, thanks to its lynchpin role in the Miami Intermodal Center. Keith Regan details the lessons learned and how theyÔÇÖll pay off down the road. By any measure, the Miami Intermodal Center (MIC) is an ambitious project. It has been in the planning stages in some form since the late 1980s, when county officials recognized that creating a smoother transition into and out of Miami International Airport could have enormous economic benefits.

ÔÇ£Look for a gold mine where there already is a gold mine,ÔÇØ says Bralorne Gold Mines president Bill Kocken to Gary Toushek. With the infrastructure already in place, he hopes to be pouring gold bars by the end of 2008. Without the existing infrastructure of what used to be a sizeable mining community in the 1930s, Louis Wolfin and Bill Kocken would not be looking forward to their first gold bars from Bralorne Gold Mines.

Technology solutions for generic sectors are old hat, says Thomas R. Cutler. The level of control and traceability required today calls for hyper-vertical market segmentation. Process manufacturing covers a wide field. Within it we find food manufacturing, and within that there is another huge range, including meat products and bakery manufacturing, among countless others. While they might all be food manufacturers within the process industry, however, their idiosyncratic characteristics require specific industry sector knowledge and expertise.

An integrated warehouse management system is essential to an efficient manufacturing facility, says Thomas R. Cutler. In any warehousing or manufacturing operation, errors can creep in at all stages of the process, the most common cause being human error.

With business under pressure to mitigate its contribution to climate change, carbon offsetting is spreading like a rash. It might make you feel good to look good, says Martin Ashcroft, but itÔÇÖs not going to save the planet. The term carbon neutral emerged last year as the latest buzzword to enter the New Oxford American Dictionary. This was not entirely due to the self-proclaimed ÔÇ£former next President of the United States of America,ÔÇØ Al Gore.  The idea of carbon neutrality is spreading like wildfire, and everyone seems to be talking about it.

As companies eliminate waste from their core activities, itÔÇÖs time to look at the recruitment process the same way, argues Thomas R Cutler. Executives are famous for describing their employees as the companyÔÇÖs greatest asset, yet hiring and training remain the most neglected processes in business.

Six sigma master black belt David Lengacher warns about a common oversight in change management programs. Managers must address beliefs and behavior, he says, not culture. Browse the business management section at your local bookstore and you will find many top selling management books proclaiming that all measures of performance should be directly traceable to the objectives of the organization. It is hard to argue with this, but it is often overemphasized to the degree that it can cause significant organizational side effects.

US Army Research, Development and Engineering CenterAs Keith Regan reports, winning the coveted Baldrige Quality Award is only one of many journeys toward excellence at the US Army Research, Development and Engineering Center. The US Army Research, Development and Engineering Center (ARDEC) develops 90 percent of the ArmyÔÇÖs armaments and ammunition, including warheads, explosives, all sizes of firearms, battlefield sensors, and advanced weaponry based on high-power microwaves, high-energy lasers, and nanotechnology. The center, based in Picatinny Arsen

Bruce Silberman tells Martin Ashcroft about the distinctive features of the Haldex Way, and how lean and six sigma complement each other. One thing I find fascinating when talking to people about their lean journeys is that every one of them is unique. They all start at a different time from a different place, of course, but although they tend to pass the same signposts and landmarks (5s, value stream mapping, kaizen, etc) they are not always in the same order, and are viewed from different perspectives.