CASE FOR ANALYSIS Acetate Department

20 5. When the atch was completed, it was

The acetate departnment's product consisted of about pumped to a
ditferent kinds of viscous liquid acetate used by another finished-product storage tank.
6. After completing each batch, the c r e u
department to manufacture transparent film to be left clear crew would
or coated with photographic emulsion or iron oxide. oughly clean the work area of dust
and empty thor
Before the The department was located in an
change: because cleanlines was extremely important to th bags
old tour-story building, as in Exhibit 13.16. The workflow ished product.
was as follows: To accomplish this work, the department was struc
1. Twenty kinds of powder arrived daily in 50-pound pa- tured as in Exhibit 13.17.
per bags. In addition, storage tanks of liquid would be The helpers were usually 18 to 25
years of age; the
filled weekly from tank trucks. mixers, 25 to 40; and the group leaders and
foremen, 40
2. Two or three acetate helpers would jointly unload pal to 60. Foremen were on salary; group leaders,
lets of bags into the storage area using a lift truck.
mixers, and
helpers were on hourly pay.
3. Several times during a shift, the helpers would bring the To produce 20 million pounds of product per year, the
bagged material up in the elevator to the third floor, department operated 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Four
where it would be stored temporarily along the walls. crews rotated shitts. For example, shitt foreman A
and his
4. Mixing batches was under the direction of the
group two group leaders and crews would work two weeks on
leader and was rather like baking a cake.
Following a the day shift (8:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M.), then two weeks on
prescribed formula, the group leader, mixers, and help- the evening shift (4:00 P.M. to
ers operated valves to feed in the proper solvent and
midnight), and then rwo
weeks on the night shift (midnight to 8:00 A.M.). There
manually dump in the proper weight and mixture of were two days off between shift
solid material. The glob would be mixed by changes.
giant egg- During a typical shift, a group leader and his crew
beaters and heated according to the
recipe. would complete two or three batches. A batch would

EXHIBIT 13.16
Elevation View of
Acetate Department
before Change

Department offices and

Solvent
testing laboratory
Work floor
Ti
Storage
T
Mixing and product storage vat

Material storage

100 feet

Source:
sion of Hampton/Summer/Webber,
Pearson Education, Inc., Organizational
Upper Saddle River,Behavior
New
Practice
Management, 4th ed., © 1982. J c e d b yp e r m i s
Jersey. Reprinted and Electronically
 EXHIBIT 13.17
Organizational Chart
of Acetate Departmeent
before Change

Department Head

Staff Engineer
Laboratory
Technician Clerk
ooonennoneonoeneoononnoneonoeoo0onnnnnoens

Superviso Supervisor B
Shi Shift
SupervisOr b SupervisorD
wwwww.mnwe

Group Group Group Group Group Group Group Group

Leader Leader Leader Leader Leader Leader Leadder Leader
2 Mixers 2 Mixers 2 Mixers 2 Mixers 2 Mixers 2 Mixers 2 Mixers 2 Mixers
2 Helpers 2 Helpers 2 Helpers 2 Helpers 2 Helpers 2Helpers 2 Helpers 2Helpers

The new system: To improve productivity, the acetate

frequently be started on one shift and completed by the next
department was completely redesigned; the technology
shift crew. There was slightly less work on the evening and
these crews changed from batches to continuous processing. The ba-
night shifts because no deliveries were made, but
foreman would sic building was retained but substantially modified, as in
engaged in a little more cleaning. The shift Exhibit 13.18. The modified workflow is as follows:
instructions to the two group leaders at the beginning
give via trucks in
of each shift as to the status of batches in process, barches to 1. Most solid raw materials are delivered
expected, and what cleaning large aluminum bins holding 500 pounds.
be mixed, what deliveries were
at all times on
was to be done. Periodically throughout the shift the fore- 2. One handler (formerly helper) is on duty
would materials and to dump the
which he the first floor to receive raw
man would collect samples in small bottles, feeder.
bins into the semiautomatic screw
leave at the laboratory technicians' desk for testing. leader) directs the
The management and office staft (e.g., departc 3. The head operator (former group fourth
from a control panel on the
and department clerk) mixing operations
nead, staff engineer, lab technician, the foreman might floor located along o n e wall
a c r o s s from the depart-

worked only on the day shift, although ment oftices. The mixing
is virtually an automatic op-
call if an emergency arose on the other shifts. in the solid material has
been sent up the
eration once
w a s a pleasant place and closes the neces-
in al, the department but program opens
l warm,
a little screw feed; a tape
mix, and so on. Sitting
which to work. The work floor was valves to add solvent, heat,
and horseplay sary head operator monitors
Substantial banter before his panel, the
c it, quiet, and clean. wasn't actually loading batches, at a table
to see that everything
is operating within
c u r r e d when the c r e w a
the
and night shifts. There was process
and pressures.
evening
particularly o n the ierce specitied temperatures

and competition was af- allowed the department

to
drtboard in the work a r e a , bowling right This technical change is illus-
would go
and loud. equently a crew al- w o r k t o r c e . The n e w
structure

the
community's
reduce its
greatly w a s created,
13.19. One n e w position
ter ecause
and
work, even at 1:00 A.M., t u r n o v e r

trated in Exhibit a small, separate

who is located in
Department

leys were open 24 hours a day.

employees
spent
their
entire

The that of a pump operator

main building. This person
absenteeism low. Most feet from the
were
shack about 300
department.
in one
valves that m o v e
the finished
Career with the many and and
Company,
and well paying operates
the pumps
tanks.
paternalistic, virtually v a r i o u s storage
Corporation was large, including
large, product among
offered attra
dttractive fringe
benefits,
came
the chang
Then
Omatic bonuses for all.
EXHIBIT 13.18
Elevation View of Acetate Department
after Change

Product storage
Lab Offices
O0OJ0
88
Control panel Control panel

Solvent
Storage Pump house
Continuous pYocessing tankS

Screw feed Storage area

Bin BinBin
100 feet owww.w

EXHIBIT 13.19
Organizational Chart of Acetate
Department after Change

Department Head

Staff Engineer
Laboratory
Technician Clerk

Shift Shift
SupervisorA Supervisor B Shit Shit
Supervisor C SupervisorD

2 Head Operators
2 Head Operators
1 Pump Operator 2 Head Operators 2 Head Operators
1 Pump Operator
1 Handler 1 Pump Operator 1 Pump 0perator
1 Handler
1 Handler 1 Handler
 below
Unfortunately, actual output has lagged well
ca-
Under the new system, production capacity was in-
since the construction work
creased to 25 million pounds per year. All remaining pacity in the several months
Actual production
received a 15 percent increase in pay. Former and technical training were completed.
employees is virtually identical with that under the old technology.
not retained in the acetate department were
personnel No one Absenteeism has increased markedly, and several judgmen-
transterred to other departments in the company.
resulted in substantial losses.
tal errors by operators have
was dismissed.