This connect-the-dots review draws on a number of prior Target articles to propose a framework for deepening and extending "lean thinking." This thinking stalls when tacked onto conventional business logic for running a company, which is as dysfunctional as a system that does not empower workers. Getting past this is a cultural change that appears necessary given the challenges and complexities that companies now face, but cultural change is not for the faint-hearted.

After many decades, I recently saw again that classic WWII movie, dreamy theme song, "As Time Goes By." What struck me was how the song helped weave a theme of events covering no more than six years stretching into an eternity. Less than four decades earlier, Einstein had deduced that time is relative, measurable only by motion relative to an observer. For most purposes time is measured by solar system motion as we see it. One exception is satellite communications, which must factor in the speed of light. Now, time is officially measured by the motion of "vibrating atoms," and the timing of everything we do is pegged to scales taken from that. But if we had no pattern of motion to measure by, time would have no meaning — cease to exist.

In April I went to a meeting of the Congress for the Future of Engineering Software (COFES), an all-nerd affair so leading-edge that some of it is bound to go over the cliff. How about engineering snippets of DNA as scaffolding to precisely assemble carbon nanotubes on a big scale? The stuff would have properties previously available only on the planet Krypton.

Here at Target we’re always thinking about change, especially continuous improvement and culture change, two key factors in the complex equation that contribute to enterprise excellence. We’re particularly interested in them this year as we’re undergoing our own bit of change. At the beginning of this year, I took over the helm of Target from Robert W. Hall, known to many as Doc. A change in leadership can mark one of the sharpest changes in an organization but, as chroniclers and students of change, I and the staff aim to get this right. We’ll do what you do. We’ll employ the lessons we’ve learned from the community of practitioners whose stories we help tell in the magazine and at AME conferences.

“Ceteris Paribus” is Latin meaning all other things remaining equal. Economists use the phrase to simplify logic like, “Higher gas prices will decrease demand, ceteris paribus.”

The lead article on lean in process industries suggests how tough it is to define and classify different processes. Indeed, business processes have more business-tobusiness similarity than manufacturing processes. Everybody has an order entry process, for example. Defining a process is necessary to improve it no matter what improvement means to you. Whether large or small, improvements change processes.

An almost-forgotten line from the 1992 presidential election was George H.W. Bush (the first one) being asked about his vision for a second term, and responding, “Oh yeah, the vision thing.” It didn’t help him in the election.