Wallace Books

Debbie writes with a keen insight into her characters. You quickly become involved in the story. She has a knack for keeping you wanted to find out more about her characters. A very enjoyable read!

Contents:

Ch 1- Is Your Company At Risk?
Checklist: Exposure to Risk
Decision Making--Improving Your Batting Average
Strategy Is Urgent--Excellence in Action: Simon Engineering Ltd.
Access Group, Gloucester England

Ch 2- Strategic Planning--What, Why, Where and Who
What Is Strategy, Anyway?
Various Levels of Strategy:
---Corporate Strategy
---Business Unit Strategy
---Operational Strategy
Ready-Fire-Aim
Strategy Drives Action
The Healthy, Robust, Competitive Company
Technologies and Tools
---Excellence in Action: Burns Aerospace Corp., Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Strategic Checkup

Ch 3- Breaking the Rules: Zero Trade-Offs
Competitive Factors
---On-Time Deliveries
---Flexibility
---Conformance Quality
---Performance Quality
---Price
Toward Zero Trade-Offs
---Quality Versus Cost
---On-Time Deliveries Verus Inventory Investment
---Flexibility Versus Quality, Flexibility Versus Cost
---Excellence in Action: Tellabs, Inc., Lisle, Illinois
For Zero Dollars
---Big Bucks
A Word About People
Strategic Checkup

Ch 4- Customers--The Reason for Being
Transformational Change
Customer Linkage
Product Confirguration--Where Do You "Meet the Customer"?
---Excellence in Action: Cover/OPW Fueling Components Group, Cincinnati, Ohio
Demand Management
Internal Customers
Strategic Checkup

Ch 5- People--The Heart
People Empowerment
Small Work Groups
Empoyment Security
Compensation Plans
---Gainsharing
---Skill Based Pay
Education and Training
Excellence in Action: Milliken and Company, Spartenburg, South Carolina
Hiring Practices
Middle Management and First-Line Supervision
Strategic Checkup

Ch 6- New Products--The Lifeblood
Critical Issues for New Product Development
Quality Function Deployment
Design for Manufacturability
---Concurrent Engineering
---DFM Mechanics
---Excellence in Action: Steelcase, Inc, Grand Rapids, Michigan
Strategic Checkup

Ch 7- Continuous Improvement--The Conscience
Myths About Just-in-Time
The Essence of Continuous Improvement
Just-in-Time: The Driver
---The Just-in-Time Process
---Kanban
Total Quality Control
---Cost of Quality
---Excellence in Action: The Tennant Company, Minneapolis, Minnesota
---Source Assurance of Quality
---Mistake-Proofing
---The Baldrige Award
Benchmarking
Strategic Checkup

Ch 8- Tactical Planning and Control--The Central Nervous System
The Elements of Manufacturing Resouce Planning
MRP II Attributes
---Internal Linkage
---Line Accountability
---Feedback
---Financial Integration
---Simulation
---Linkage and Strategy
---Excellence in Action: PYOSA, Monterey, Mexico
MRP II's Integration with Just-in-Time
Strategic Checkup

Ch 9- Facilities and Equipment--The Muscle and Bone, Part I
Plant Location/Relocation
Focus
---Excellence in Action: Radio Cap Company, San Antonio, Texas
---Process Focus?
Flow
---Job Shop
---Flow Shop
---Cellular Manufacturing
The Focus-Flow Connection
Automation
Computer Integrated Manufacturing
Capacity Strategy
---Lead Versus Lag
---Capacity Planning
Capital Budgeting
Strategic Checkup

Ch 10- Supply Chain--The Muscle and Bone, Part II
Vertical Integration Overview
Vertical Integration--Downward
---Make-or-Buy
---Supplier Partnerships
---Supplier Scheduling
---Excellence in Action: Xerox Corporation, Webster, New York
Vertical Integration--Upward
---Customer Partnerships
---Distribution Resouce Planning
Strategic Checkup

Ch 11- Measurements--The Vital Signs
Another "Industrial Revolution"
Operational Measurements
---Measures of Customer Satisfaction
---Resulting Vesus Enabling Measures
---ABCD Checklist
Financial Measurements
---Problems with Product Costing
---Activity Based Costing
---Other Uses for Cost Information
---Excellence in Action: Hewlett-Packard; Roseville Networks Division, Roseville, California
Strategic Checkup

Ch 12- Customer-Driven Strategy--The Brain
Benefits and Pitfalls
The Strategic Planning Process
---The Customer-Driven Strategy Statement
---Measurements and Tracking Tools
---Frequent Top-Management Review
How to Get Started
---The Champion
---The Facilitator
---The Strategy Formulation Meeting
---Action Plans
Winning Requires Teamwork

Appendix A- Marketplace and Financial Aspects of Reducing Setups and Changeovers

Appendix B- The Oliver Wight ABCD Checklist for Operational Excellence

Appendix C- The Trade-Off Matrix

Appendix D- A Sample Strategy Statement

Appendix E- The Oportunity Evaluator

Appendix F- The Workload Estimator

Appendix G- Glossary

This book is well-written and an interesting mix of first-hand experience and clinical research. The voices of the two authors complement eachother nicely. I am a fan of Berman and I think his choice to co-author with Hatch Wallace was wise. Highly recommeded for cutters or those interested in cutting from a psychological or educational perspective.

Kate Wallace is a poet, a visionary, and a uniquely talented writer! As a seeker of God and His crazy ways, Kate does a masterful job of sharing her journey from highly skilled professional to dazed mother of three. She shares intimately her struggles with her various roles and calls. The reader laughs and cries as Kate paints fabulous word pictures of the pulls inherent in the life of a multi-talented, multi-optioned woman. The ups and downs, the joys and frustrations are artfully and beautifully addressed. This book should be read by every woman and used in a variety of discussion settings. Get two copies - one for yourself and one for someone you love.

I read this collection of essays last summer, and I'm impressed with Wallace's balanced analyses of popular culture and cinema past and present. Wallace is an astute critic and scholar, but what astounded me were the early chapters that centered on her life. She should publish a memoir, as she has an acute ability to draw the reader into her personal life.
However, I do have one criticism. I do not like the way she handled bell hooks, and I'm not talking about Wallace's essays on the self-proclaimed diva of Black Feminism. In the early chapters, Wallace apologizes for writing the pieces on hooks, which undermines the excellent essays. The tone of Wallace's apology comes across as forced and insincere. bell hooks trashes everybody, and she has NEVER apologized or regretted a word she has put on paper. Just as Postcolonial critic Sara Suleri did a decade ago when she chastised hooks, Wallace should have stuck to her guns...Nonetheless, the essays on hooks are provocative, valid, and downright juicy.

This is a child-in-jeopardy book written with obvious care and restraint. The author creates a large cast of believable characters and juggles them skillfully. Pat Wallace is a talented and versatile author. Be sure to read her other mystery and horror novels!

This book is for the Deadlands role-playing game what the "Monster Manual" is for Dungeons and Dragons. It contains a few pages of information on mundane creatures like scorpions and skunks, on animal sidekicks, and on the "Explorer's Society" (sort of a London social club for gentlemen who like to hunt monsters). There are also about 4 pages or so of advice on GMing monsters. However, the vast majority of the book is devoted to describing 44 monsters for the game that (to the best of my knowledge) aren't described elsewhere: bone fiends, brain crawlers, 'gloms, pox walkers, will-o-the-wisps, etc. Each monster description is divided into two parts: a flavorful narrative description included in the player's section of the book, and a more detailed description in the GM's section of the book, which includes a description, in game terms, of the monster's abilities.

Note that unless your Deadlands character has a faithful dog or horse as a sidekick, this book is probably of more use to a Marshal (GM) than to a player. However, if you are a GM, then out of all the Deadlands books, this book is likely to be the book you consult most while preparing adventures for your players. Whether you use monsters straight out of the book, or merely read the book to give yourself ideas for creatures you invent yourself, you can expect this book to get pretty worn.

Each monster is illustrated at least once. The illustrations are all black and white, but they are well done--comparable to the art in the "Player's Guide," much better than the artwork in "Hexarcana."

I really enjoyed this book series growing up and I'm searching out the early editions to give to my own kids now. McGurk is a red-headed eleven year old boy with delusions of being Sherlock Holmes who runs a investigations organization from his basement. In this volume, McGurk and team (including Joey, McGurk's "watson") have to catch a dollnapper or face public humiliation in their suburban neighborhood.

I love this series because it's exciting but also realistic - McGurk and his fellow kids act as real kids would in most circumstances. I also like the scribbled drawings that illustrate different points, which really adds to the idea that this series is authored by a ten-year-old member of the McGurk organization. A real treat!

I am the author of this book and I want to provide you more information about it to help you in your buying decision. I truly believe you should read this book if debt is becoming an issue for you. But be advised: I am something of a voice in the widerness in that I do not go along with the mainstream thinking on this subject.

In "The Debt Whisperer" you will learn why it is a mistake to give up the power you have to pay off your debts in a way that is in your own financial best interest. And that power can be summed up in three simple words: PAY THE MINIMUM!

Most of the pundits "out there" advocate getting rid of your debt as fast as you can, even at the expense of your other financial goals and your dreams. You should settle your debts, absolutely! But paying more than is prudent or more than you can actually afford is giving your creditors the power to control your financial life.

And, besides, if you are in over your head, your debt is not your most pressing financial concern. You see debt is only one symptom of the real problem. The other symptom is a lack of savings. And, when you don't have any savings, your financial viability is very iffy, indeed!

I explain what the real problem is in the book. And I also present a two-part plan that will not only allow you to get out of debt but also build your financial viability at the same time.

Follow the plan and you will be able to forget your debt altogether and shift the focus of your financial energy to the more positive aspects of managing your money. Don't give up your personal power to the credit card companies!

Thank you.

Defiant Peacemaker is a fantastic biography that covers the entire life of Nicholas Trist. Any one who enjoys a good biography will love this one. I find the subtitle 'Trist In The Mexican War' to be misleading. It is a true indepth bio of the life of a man who lost his father at a young age, married Thomas Jefferson's grand daughter, worked at various political appointed job which made him well known around Washington DC, also was Ambassador to Cuba. Trist is the only man in American history who single handedly ended a war. He negotiated the treaty of Guadaloupe Hidalgo to end the Mexican War. He never held a political appointment after. A great biography details the changes of fortunes of a life, good times and bad times. Mr. Ohrt addresses these details so well, you leave this book feeling that you really know Trist and feel for his misfortunes, especially considering the contribution he made to his country, and to know his country never recognized his efforts.