Managing by the Numbers

Last week, we asked you do you have any operating equipment or software for which it is extremely difficult to obtain parts or updates?

100% of the respondents said "Yes."

A couple of comments:

Older equipment that has been taken out of production and spare parts is only guarantee 10 years after it has been taken out of production. No 15 years later we still need to use this equipment and there is no new on the market yet. Parts are collecting from different places.

Just recently we had to purchase some hard drives and floppy discs on e-bay for a control system for our boiler water conditioning system following a failure of that system that resulted in major downtime. These standalone computer control systems seem to be most vulnerable to obsolescence.

This week, we are asking you to grade your manager. You may take the quiz here or by clicking "more" below.

Want to get a jump on the surveys? Follow me on twitter, where they are posted early. You can do this here. (note: all respondents are confidential; the software is programmed in such a way that neither we nor anyone else can determine who responded)

###

Want to be heard on other subjects? Be sure to watch for "Paperitalo Second Tuesday Surveys."