The High-Velocity Edge: How Market Leaders Leverage Operational Excellence to Beat the Competition

Generate faster, better results—using less capital and fewer resources! Toyota, Alcoa, Pratt & Whitney, and the U.S. Navy's Nuclear Power Program operate in vastly different worlds, but they have one thing in common. Each of these organizations generates constant, almost automatic operational self-improvements at rates faster, durations longer, and breadths wider than any of its competitors. Excellence in operational management is the single element separating industry leaders from all others. The High-Velocity Edge is a blueprint for fueling innovation and improvement at both the management and process level in your own company. It’s not magic, it’s not luck. It’s something that that can be taught, cultivated, practiced, and effectively applied to an organization. Spears explains how to: Build a system of “dynamic discovery” that reveals operational problems and weaknesses Attack and solve problems at the time and in the place where they occur, converting weaknesses into strengths Disseminate knowledge gained from solving local problems throughout the company as a whole Create managers invested in the process of continual innovation Apply the lessons of The High-Velocity Edge, and you will enjoy profitability, quality, efficiency, reliability, and agility unmatched by any of your rivals. Spear’s critically acclaimed book Chasing the Rabbit, Spear describes what sets market-dominating companies apart and provides a detailed framework you can leverage to surge to the lead in your own industry. Spear examines the internal operations of dominant organizations across a wide spectrum of industries, from technology to design and from manufacturing to health care. While he investigates several great operational triumphs, like top-tier teaching hospitals’ fantastic improvements in quality of care, Pratt & Whitney’s competitive gains in jet engine design, and the U.S. Navy’s breakthroughs in inventing and applying nuclear propulsion, The High-Velocity Edge is not just about the adoration of success. It also takes a critical look at some of the operational missteps that have humbled even the most reputable and respected of companies and organizations. The decades-long prominence of Toyota, for example, is contrasted with the many factors leading to the automaker’s sweeping 2010 product recalls. Taken together, these multiple perspectives and in-depth case studies show how to: Build a system of “dynamic discovery” designed to reveal operational problems and weaknesses as they arise Attack and solve problems when and where they occur, converting weaknesses into strengths Disseminate knowledge gained from solving local problems throughout the company as a whole Create managers invested in developing everyone’s capacity to continually innovate and improve Whatever kind of company you operate—from technology to fi nance to healthcare—mastery of these four key capabilities will put you on the fast track to operational excellence, where you will generate faster, better results—using less capital and fewer resources. Apply the lessons of Steven J. Spear and gain a high-velocity edge over every competitor in your industry.