EBME4011 Total Quality Management, Assignment 2, Case Study

Megat Sharil Azeem Zulqahar, 0129775

Introduction

Continuous Process Improvement is important in maintaining and increasing the quality of the
operations, production and the products and outputs of an organisation or a company, and it is one
of the standards used in measuring productivity. All companies use Continuous Improvement in
some form or another, but most of them use the same methods and principles in their working
environment. This case study investigates the Continuous Improvement methods practiced by
Deere & Company and how their CI projects benefit the company and their workers. Based on the
article about Deere & Company and their Continuous Improvement, “Continuous Process
Improvement at Deere & Company”, by William F. Achtmeyer from Tuck School of Business at
Dartmouth, this report studies the specific CI working styles of the company and how the company
benefitted.

a. Analyse how the company in the case study motivate its front-line workers to pursue
continuous improvement projects? Could this approach be implemented in other
companies?

One of the approaches that Deere & Company took to motivate its front-line workers to pursue
continuous improvement projects was to measure the productivity of the groups of front-line
workers and pay them a bonus in proportion of the productivity. Consequently, the company raises
the benchmark for the productivity every six months to ensure the front-line workers make
progress. This plan resulted in an increase in the rate of productivity of the company.
Other companies can also implement this approach, however depending on the circumstances of
their working environment, whether or not a bonus pay plan can improve the progress of their
company. These companies can try and see if their workers are interested and measure their
progress after a few terms. Based on a survey reported by the Society for Human Resource
Management, most of the survey respondents indicate that incentive or bonus pay plans have been
successful in increasing the rating of the organizations involved. [1]

b. According to the case “Any completed project is considered a success” regardless of

whether or not it reached a successful outcome. Discuss your opinion on this?

My opinion on the case “Any completed project is considered a success” is that I think a project
that can be done to its completion within its given period is somewhat a successful project in a
sense that all the tasks in the project were done. However, for the project to be considered 100%
successful, the results and outcomes of the project have to be taken into account.

According to Department of Information Technology of the government of Maryland, for a project

to really be considered successful, it has to follow some parameters. First the project has to meet
the business requirements, in terms of its financial and entrepreneurial benefits to the company.
Second, the project has to be done on schedule and be completed within the time period given.
Third, the project has to be operated and maintained within the budget of the company, as well as
when delivered to the clients and customers. Fourth, the project has to give business values to the
company, as well as deliver return on investment to ensure the project is worth it. [2]
 c. The company in the case study actively downplayed competition between factories. Why?

The company actively downplayed competition between factories as they believe that it would
lead to the factories being too competitive with each other to the point that they would keep the
results and information that they get for themselves, hence inhibiting progress that they would
make if they shared the information and knowledge amongst them.

The company made the factories publish a Continuous Improvement (CI) report card, and kept the
performance scores and ratings of the factories open for others to see. This was to keep the
information of the factories transparent and shareable and the factories could learn from each other
to help them make progress.

d. The company required that every natural work group complete at least four CI projects per
quarter. What is the message? What do you think? Is the standard that everyone must “exert
minimum effort” in ongoing operations?

The four projects that Deere & Company required every natural work group to complete revolve
around four topics for each, namely safety, quality, delivery, and efficiency. This was a
requirement set for every Deere employee because it was seen that every employee had some
downtime on the job and so they could contribute to the CI project. I think with this approach, not
only would this enable the workers and their groups to show their efforts and thus increase their
worth and reputation in the company, but these CI projects could in turn benefit them and the
company as a whole.

Based on the four measures of the project aforementioned, the CI projects could be done
thoroughly and made sure that they benefitted the company in increasing its safety and security,
improving their overall quality, cutting down the time and costs for delivery, and increasing the
efficiency of the operations of the company.
Creative Safety Supply defines Continuous Improvement as a process to improve the way things
are done on a regular basis. The model PDCA, or Plan, Do, Check and Act can be used as a guide
for doing a CI project, and the fact that Deere & Company required at least four CI projects to be
done per quarter would only improve the way Continuous Improvement benefits the company, as
it was done so often the workers would make it a habit. [3]

Conclusion

Continuous Improvement for Deere & Company ensured that their front-line workers were always
motivated to act and pursue their CI projects. The specific methods that the company used
discussed in this case study report worked for the company, but they would not necessarily work
for other companies. Other types of organisations and their work styles can use trial and error
approaches to see what Continuous Improvement methods would work best for them, and hence
would benefit their company and improved their overall quality.

Reference

1. https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/news/hr-magazine/summer2019/pages/does-incentive-
pay-work.aspx
2. https://doit.maryland.gov/SDLC/Documents/What%20Makes%20a%20Successful%20Pr
oject.pdf
3. https://www.creativesafetysupply.com/articles/continuous-improvement/