Slippery Places: How The Delusions Of Modern Management Destroyed An American Manufacturing Firm

American manufacturing was once the envy of the world. Now many companies are either gone or have become the domestic sales departments of foreign manufacturers. This book does not just restate the same myopic theories and panaceas to which American management has become addicted. It is the inside story of how a respected manufacturing firm was destroyed within a decade by the diligent application of those theories and panaceas. Through this memoir of the ruin of a single firm, the author illustrates the flaws in contemporary American management practices and attitudes that are destroying our nation's manufacturing capability. Prosperity is earned by producing items of real value that people will pay to own. Without real output, a society slides into poverty while shuffling a dwindling store of the wealth created by past generations. The author's analysis and insights are essential to understanding the management philosophy that is jeopardizing America's future.

Jule Miller has a B.S. in chemistry and worked for thirty years in the aircraft industry as an industrial chemist, a manufacturing engineer, and an engineering manager. He is the author of numerous articles on manufacturing technology and its management as well as a textbook on the subject. During the years he worked in the aircraft industry he was awarded nine U.S. patents for manufacturing processes and twice won national awards for the development of advanced aircraft engine components. He is a Fellow of the American Welding Society. In 1989 he retired from the division that is the subject of this book and co-founded Essex Consultants. Now, finally retired, he lives on Nevis in the West Indies with his wife Heide.