Page 298 - (DK) The Business Book

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IN CONTEXT
ELIMINATE FOCUS
Streamlining processes
KEY DATES
UNNECESSARY 3rd century BCE The Romans
mass-produce lamps. Instead
of hand making them, they use
two-part molds.
STEPS 1760 The Industrial Revolution
begins, moving from hand-
production methods to
SIMPLIFY PROCESSES specialized machines.
1730s US statesman Benjamin
Franklin writes about waste
reduction in industry in Poor
Richard’s Almanack.
1900s Ford revolutionizes car
manufacturing with mass
production and standardization.
2010 In The Art of Invention,
US inventor Steven J. Paley
states that it is easier to
innovate by adding complexity,
but the best results come
from simplification.

here are several ways that
companies can improve
T their profits: they can
increase their revenue, reduce their
costs, or use a combination of both
methods. If the cost of producing
goods or services can be reduced,
without negatively impacting
revenue, total profits will rise.
A good way to lower costs is to
simplify the method of production
by removing any expensive and
nonessential steps that will not
adversely affect the consumer’s
perception of the quality of the
product. More straightforward—
and therefore more cost-effective—
production methods have been a
goal for centuries. An early example