newsdigest

by Dirk Dusharme



DIRECTORY
Automotive Quality Requirements Update
Web Site Addresses Labor-Management Team Bill
$aving a Mint
Baldrige Award Pioneer Retires
Federal Agency Seeks Out Customers
Share Your Knowledge
Are You Listening?
Baldrige Criteria Revamps Company
WMX Doesn't Waste Time
Employees Care
Downsizing Drains Creativity




Automotive Quality
Requirements Update

In case you've lost track, and who could blame you, here is the latest on what's happening with Quality Systems Requirements QS-9000 and related standards.

QS-9000 Sub-Tier Deployment
The Automotive Industry Action Group is working to push QS-9000 down the supply chain to tier-two suppliers and beyond. Their proposal would require tier-two suppliers to meet QS-9000 section I (ISO 9001-based requirements) and section II (sector-specific requirements). It would also require tier-two suppliers to develop selected tier-three suppliers using applicable elements of QS-9000, sections I and II.

Third-party registration will not be required, according to Judy Kilpatrick, program manager/quality for the AIAG.

"Vendors will require tier-two and lower suppliers to undergo a self-assessment and a second-party assessment," says Kilpatrick.

To avoid multiple audits from different customers, the AIAG is looking to set up a database that customers could use to verify whether a supplier had already been assessed, says Dave Lalain, an AIAG associate director on loan from PPG Industries.

"First-tier suppliers would honor one another's audits as long as they lived by the rules of the program, which meant that they used a qualified auditor and the same assessment tool," says Lalain.

Tooling and Equipment Supplement
It depends on whom you talk to as to when the tooling and equipment supplement (formerly known as TE-9000) to QS-9000 will roll out. The official word from the AIAG is that there is no deadline for the roll-out. Insiders guess that we will see the document, currently in final draft, sometime this year.

Sources say that 1,000 TE supplement manuals will be shipped to selected suppliers before or as part of the roll-out.

Because compliance is voluntary, third-party registration will not be required, says Kilpatrick. Compliance verification will probably come in the form of self-assessment or second-party assessment.

Semiconductor Supplement

The semiconductor supplement to QS-9000 has been out for about a year. It affects internal and external suppliers of semiconductor parts and materials to members of the Automotive Electronics Council. The AEC consists of parts or components engineering groups from Chrysler, Delco (GM) and Ford.

Materials Management Standard
This standard affects all Ford production parts suppliers, warehouses that store or ship product, assembly plants and any affiliates that ship parts or materials to a Ford Automotive Operations customer worldwide.

The standard outlines a more in-depth handling of how suppliers deal with their materials-paperwork, communication, supplier management-throughout the entire supply chain.
Currently this is only a Ford standard.

A copy of the standard may be ordered from Edcor at (810) 626-3077.

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Web Site Addresses
Labor-Management
Team Bill

U.S. workers concerned by the recent legal challenges to labor-management teams (see "News Digest," February 1996) can now turn to the Internet for information and action. A Web site sponsored by the TEAMwork for America Initiative provides updated information on the TEAM Act in Congress, the latest news releases and case studies of companies affected by Section 8(a)(2) of the National Labor Relations Act. It also provides automatic e-mail for contacting your U.S. senator.

The Web site can be reached at http://www.teamwork.org.
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$aving a Mint

Three years ago, the U.S. Mint in Denver was in trouble. Teamwork didn't exist, customer focus was hazy, and labor-management relations had completely broken down. Litigation on more than 200 outstanding labor-management disputes and equal-opportunity complaints at the 300-person site was costing a fortune-about $10 million per year, according to the Office of Personnel Management.

Not surprisingly, the problem stemmed from poor management implemented by an "anachronistic political-spoils system," says U.S. Mint Director Philip Diehl.

"The problem was that Mint superintendents-heads of production facilities-have traditionally been appointed by the President," explains Diehl. "We had a management team out there who didn't have experience in manufacturing or in the kind of team-building philosophy needed in that kind of setting."

The Mint needed to get rid of the appointees and hire career civil servants who knew what they were doing, says Diehl. These managers would have the expertise to build teamwork and lead the four mints in Denver, San Francisco, Philadelphia and West Point, New York, to achieve a better customer focus.

Under President Clinton, the Treasury Department succeeded in getting the White House to give up the political appointees. For the Denver Mint, that move caused changes almost overnight. New Denver Mint Superintendent Jack DeBroekert forged a relationship with Greg Wikberg, president of the local American Federation of Government Employees union, and the two began rebuilding teamwork within the Mint.
First they brought in an outside consultant to conduct team building between union and management leaders. Then, as part of a Mintwide project, Denver set up a partnership council made up of union, nonunion and management employees to address workplace issues. Throughout the process, they have placed little if any emphasis on union affiliation.

"We worry more about what it will take and who best represents the group that can get a problem resolved," says DeBroekert. "It could be all management or all union or any combination in between."

Wikberg, who is also president of the National Mint Council, agrees: "I don't believe this bit that you have to be a member of the union to play the game. If someone has the talent and the desire to be involved in positive change, I want them to be involved."

Wikberg and DeBroekert's partnership has paid off. Almost all-98 percent-of employee complaints have been resolved, saving the Mint more than $10 million. Efficiency has increased 100-fold, according to Wikberg. And in 1995, the Denver Mint set a world record by pressing 10.3 billion circulating coins.

In February, President Clinton's National Partnership Council presented the U.S. Mint at Denver one of four nationwide awards honoring federal agencies that have dramatically improved relationships among employees, managers and unions.



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Baldrige Award Pioneer Retires

CURT REIMANN, first director of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, retired from federal service at the beginning of the year.
Reimann is credited with piloting the Baldrige Quality Award Program into a system whose impact has been felt around the world. Thousands of state, county, city, private and international organizations use the Baldrige criteria as a means to benchmark the quality of their organization. The Baldrige Award is still the most coveted quality award a U.S. organization can receive.
Former Baldrige Award Deputy Director Harry Hertz succeeded Reimann.



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Federal Agency Seeks Out Customers

Personal service isn't always the first thing that comes to mind when you think about dealing with the federal government. But one government agency is changing that perception by hanging out in shopping malls.

The Greensburg, Pennsylvania, office of the U.S. Department of Labor's Division of Coal Mine Worker's Compensation administers the Black Lung Program, which handles claims and benefits from former coal miners afflicted with the disease, and their beneficiaries.

In the past, claimants with questions had to visit a Social Security office or one of DCMWC's nine district offices. They often couldn't meet face to face with the personnel who decided their claims. By early 1995, the gap between DCMWC and its customers had widened considerably.

The Greensburg office set out to turn the situation around. During a brainstorming session, a member of the DCMWC staff suggested that because most claimants are elderly and tend to use the shopping malls as a social center, periodic visits to malls would greatly increase the office's visibility to its customers.

The idea worked out so well that the first time the agency showed up at a mall with only two claims examiners, they were swamped and had to quickly add two more, recalls John Ciszek, district director at the Greensburg office.

Results of the outreach program have been two-fold, he notes. Not only has the number of claimants increased dramatically, but claimants get to meet face to face with a claims examiner. Those whose claims have been denied and are in the appeal process especially appreciate the personal contact.

"They have the opportunity to talk to someone to see what they need to do to strengthen their case," says Ciszek. "This is so much better than just getting a letter that says we've looked at your case and the medical evidence doesn't indicate a disability."

The Black Lung Program currently monitors payments to more than 115,000 beneficiaries, more than 10,000 of which are handled by the Greensburg office.


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Share Your Knowledge

Business leaders recognize the power of managing organizational knowledge, but doing it effectively remains an enigma for many, according to initial findings from a benchmarking study conducted by accounting and business advisory firm Arthur Andersen.

Seventy-nine percent of participating organizations said that managing organizational knowledge should be an essential or important component of their business strategy. However, 59 percent said they are doing this poorly or not at all.

While knowledge management is credited for savings in research-and-development costs, shorter production times, productivity boosts and enhanced employee satisfaction, 91 percent of those who completed the survey said their companies have not yet linked knowledge management to financial results.


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Are You
Listening?

The next time someone says to you in frustration, "You're not listening!" consider the possibility that you aren't. Poor listening skills aren't just an irritation to others, they can hamper productivity and destroy teamwork.
Selective hearing is one of the most common barriers to listening, according to an essay issued by onpurpose inc., a Brookline, New Hampshire-based consulting company. We do it automatically, like people who live near an airport and no longer "hear" the noise. Unfortunately, the authors say this automatic fine-tuning works just as well on people as it does on planes. Have you ever noticed how children can't hear you call them to dinner but hear every word you whisper to someone else that you don't want them to hear?
When you are around the same people a lot of the time, it's very easy to anticipate what they will say, the authors assert. So, instead of fine-tuning your listening to the speaker, you may be formulating your own response, without giving the speaker a chance to say something different.
In some ways, you have tuned this person out, just like the noise from an airport. Even though you listen, you don't actually hear what is being said. If you notice this happening, tune back into the speaker and actually hear the thoughts that are being contributed, say the authors.
Source: "Making the Workplace Work," available free from onpurpose inc., telephone (800) 526-2245, fax (603) 672-8256 or e-mail coach@onpurpose.com.



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Baldrige Criteria Revamps Company

If your company is looking to reengineer, consider using the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award criteria as a guide.

Last year, Diversified Investment Advisors conducted a self-assessment based on the Baldrige criteria. The retirement advisory firm had lost market momentum due to its acquisition by a larger company and the introduction of a large variety of new products and services. The assessment helped Diversified enhance customer satisfaction and boost market share.

"By 1995, the company was poised to grow rapidly," explains Wynne Van Thoen, director of quality management/training and development at the 520-employee Purchase, New York, firm. "But first we needed to see what shape we were in ."

As a first step, Diversified hired an outside consulting firm, The Pacesetter Group, to familiarize employees with the Baldrige criteria and train team members to conduct employee focus groups. Next, the team brought in a Baldrige examiner to validate its findings and provide additional recommendations for improvements.

The self-assessment pointed out four major opportunities for improvement: leadership systems, client-relationship management, use of data and information systems, and people development.

For instance, the self-assessment team recommended the company implement a client-relationship system, the necessary support technology, client-relationship training and client focus groups.

Based on data related to these areas and others, the team made several recommendations that led to a major reorganization. This helped Diversified focus more on its core processes than on a particular product or function.

Although it's a little too early for hard data, there has been a significant increase in sales proposals that the company attributes, in part, to the self-assessment and the changes that followed, says Van Thoen.



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WMX Doesn't
Waste Time

By involving front-line employees in fast-cycle improvement projects, an international waste-handling company hopes to save more than $10 million in 1996.

Waste Management, a 70,000-employee company, has long had process improvement teams, says Mike Pecoraro, business improvement manager for the Chicago-based company. But these teams were involved in six- to nine-month strategic breakthrough projects.

"We needed an effort focused on our front-line people," recalls Pecoraro. "We wanted to get them involved, not on strategic breakthrough projects, but on everyday problems that needed to be solved and fixed quickly without a major investment in time and training."

WMX worked with management consulting firm Leap Technologies to implement Workout, a fast-cycle process improvement program that involves front-line employees in six- to eight-week projects. The program works by briefing management personnel at a particular WMX division, identifying short-term projects and then assembling and training the teams. The teams are then let loose to tackle the problems.

One team identified that the company wasted money by swapping out commercial dumpsters every time a wheel broke off. Instead, suggested team members, the truck drivers who emptied the dumpsters could do the repairs themselves. The idea could save a division about $1,000 per week, says Pecoraro.

In 1995, when the teams began, WMX created 69 teams and realized about $1.3 million in savings. They have created more than 70 teams so far this year and expect a total of between 200 to 300 teams and a total savings of about $5 million.
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Employees Care

If you're worried that downsizing and restructuring are leaving your employees burnt out and with no interest in maintaining a customer focus, take heart.

Most of the employees responding to a recent Towers Perrin survey indicated that they concentrate on pleasing the customer. Furthermore, most employees want to work for organizations that have a customer-centered focus, according to the survey of more than 3,300 employees.

The results are included in Towers Perrin's 1995 Workplace Index, which includes four separate survey categories: career security, business alignment, management effectiveness and customer focus. Of these, business alignment and customer focus received the highest scores-70 and 69 out of 100 respectively.



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Downsizing Drains Creativity

Maintaining work-group stability is a key factor in maintaining employee innovation and creativity during downsizing, according to a study conducted by Harvard business professor Teresa Amabile and Colgate University assistant professor of psychology Regina Conti.

"We found the degree of stability that people felt in their immediate environment correlated very strongly with their reported behaviors in their work," explains Amabile. "This included how creative they felt they were being and their degree of risk taking and entrepreneurship."

The study focused on a high-tech Fortune 500 company with 30,000 employees. Amabile measured employee's perceptions of their work environment known to relate to innovation and creativity. They first took a baseline measurement before employees knew of the downsizing. Then they recorded three more measurements: Wave 1-when the downsizing was 70-percent complete; Wave 2-when it was 100-percent complete; and Wave 3-four months after the downsizing was over.

The surveys revealed a dramatic decline in the work environment from baseline to Wave 1, notes Amabile. And although there was some recovery from Wave 1 to Wave 3, it did not compensate for the original loss.

She also points out that the number of invention disclosures dropped disproportionately during the downsizing. Although the downsizing resulted in a 15-percent decrease in employees, the number of inventions dropped by 24 percent.

The teams that fared best during downsizing were those that experienced the least amount of disruption to their team (loss or change of personnel), says Amabile.

What does all this indicate for managers in a company that is being downsized?

"One thing we focused on a lot is the importance of trying to engage in team building with groups that have been re-formed during downsizing," says Amabile.

If it isn't possible to keep the team intact, Amabile suggests using team-building exercises to help restore innovation and creativity.