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Factory

  • Writer: Ade McCormack
    Ade McCormack
  • Jul 24
  • 1 min read

What is a factory?

Traditionally a factory was a mechanism for turning raw materials into products. The focus was to maximise profits by eliminating waste. Efficiency was operational driver.


In later years, with the arrival of services organisations moved the emphasis away from physical goods. Nonetheless the efficiency / process orientation remained. So many service organisations today are just well furnished factories. But instead of physical items moving along the conveyor belt, we have data moving across the network.


Intelligent organisations are not machines. They behave like living systems. Process and efficiency have their place, but these characteristics are unlikely to keep an organisation viable in an increasingly disruptive world.


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