ABSTRACT
The first action toward look into the future starts with an identification of areas within the organization or plant or a specific process that could be at risk or vulnerable. These are areas that could be potential show stoppers for the organization. Other typical examples might be hourly labor or potential labor contract disputes, the pricing of the products, the research and development organization, customers, or any other part of the business or plant. Identification of these high-risk areas, in many cases, involves critically and openly looking at future strategies, plans, or proposed changes, and then trying to imagine what could go wrong if the plan or change wasn't successful. A good technique is to first develop a step-by-step project management plan, and then review each important step or milestone for what could go wrong. We should be especially critical of anything that the organization has never done before or things outside the current core competency.
