$($Week $11)$ Case #$5$: Cardiotronics: What is the root problem in this case and what are its symptoms? If you were the new manager, how could you use your current resources to assess the problem? What assumptions have the potential to bias your decision$-$making process? CARDIOTRONICS, INC. Cardiotronics, Inc., was started $17$ years ago in a small New Hampshire town by two bio$-$ medical engineers whose goal was to produce a quality cardiac monitor $($a device that con$-$ tinuously displays the wave pattern of the heart's function$).$ The company originally produced customized monitors on a small scale. After five years, the owners had perfected a quality monitor that was significantly less expensive than custom monitors, and they decided to mass produce it$.$ The company currently has just over $200$ employees. It remains nonunionized, but the labor union in this old New England milltown has from time to time made efforts to win a union election. For the past $11$ years, the company has enjoyed a strong competitive edge and has gained a reputa$-$ tion for a quality product and prompt service. Recently, however, the company's top$-$management team has been informed that a similar monitor, reputed to be of equal or better quality than Cardiotronics', will soon be introduced into the U$.$S$.$ market by a large Japanese electronics firm. Monitor Assembly Process The cardiac monitors $($excluding cables$)$ are produced in four stages. In the first stage, circuit boards are produced largely by a machine process. During the second stage, the circuit boards are placed by hand on a motherboard and are connected to one another. The final step in stage $2$ is the attachment of the motherboard to the base panel. In the third stage, the casing is mounted by hand onto the base panel and external hardware and cables are placed. In the final stage, the monitors are tested for a week before shipping. The Second$-$Stage Assembly Task Four assembly teams are responsible for the second stage of monitor assembly, the manual assembly and the wiring of the motherboard. Each team consists of five workers operating in a U$-$shaped area. The motherboard is started at station $1.$ Each worker adds his or her circuit, connects it to the others, and passes it to the next worker. The assembly process requires some manual dexterity but is relatively easy to do$.$ Each job on the line is of equal difficulty as determined by a recent industrial engineering study. The assembly arrangement for one of these teams, Team D$,$ is as follows. $221$Assembly Team D From Stage $1$ In Lee Smith Chris Jones #$2$ #$1$ Pat Crane #$3$ To Stage $3$ Out Adrian James #$5$ Terry Fram #$4-$ The following are the recently announced assembly team average daily production figures for the last month: Team A $=40$ boards Team B $=32$ boards Team C $=43$ boards Team D$=35$ boards Your Problem as Marion Andrews, Supervisor of Team D You are the new supervisor of Team D$.$ You have been in the position for a month, having recently been promoted from the quality con$-$ trol section where you worked for five years. During your second week, you received a memo stating that all second$-$stage teams have to meet their minimum daily production rates. You passed on this information to the team in a brief meeting but had to leave for a week of supervi$-$ sory training shortly thereafter. After returning from the training program, you note that the daily production has increased to $36,$ but your team is still $4$ units below the daily minimum rate of $40$ units. In looking into the problem you note the following: Work accumulates at Pat Crane's station #$3$ where there are typically several motherboards waiting. Pat is $58$ years old and has been with the company for $13$ years. The supervisors of the other production teams do not consider Pat acceptable for transfer. Only one monitor from your team has been rejected in the past month by quality control, a better quality record than the other teams have. Your team's assembly and test equipment is relatively new and in good working order. Team D$\text{'}$s assembly line will be closed for $30$ minutes tomorrow, and you have decided to call a meeting for Team D$.$ How will you conduct this meeting? Use the guidelines in the Class Preparation to think through what you will say.Sample Facilitation Statements and Questions for Problem Solving Situation Analysis Problem Analysis Implementation Analysis Solution Analysis Idea Getting How could we make this change? Let's brainstorm possible solutions to the problem, but let's not evaluate them until all the ideas have been heard. Visioning$/$Exploration $9)$ Information Gathering Let's not discuss solutions until we Let's try to put our biases aside and thoroughly understand the take an objective look at the problem. situation. What do we know so What do you think about the far? situation? What do we need to know before How do you feel about it$?$ we can really define the problem? What opportunities do you see in Who else should we talk to$?$ this situation? What's preventing us from reaching What do you hope is the outcome? the desired state? Is there something else we should be looking at first? What's working well? What do we want to change? What values are involved in this situation? Participation Who would be affected by the implementation of this solution? Whose commitment is needed to Successfully implement this solution? Who has the most at stake or the most energy to get this accomplished? How can we involve them in planning the implementation? $223$ Priority Setting What's the most important problem that, if resolved, would cause other things to fall into place? Why? What do others in the organization and external stakeholders think about this? Do we all agree that this is the most important problem or opportunity? Problem Definition Do we have enough information to put together a model of the problem? Can we draw a model of the problem? What factors caused the problem? What are the symptoms of the problem and the results? What other factors influence these relationships? Have we identified and verified the key cause? Decision Making Are we ready to evaluate these suggestions? What criteria should our solution meet? Do these solutions get at all the causes in our problem definition? Which solution would have the biggest payoff and be the easiest to implement? Which of these solutions meets all the criteria? Are there any unintended consequences that might result from this solution? Planning What tasks need to be done to implement this solution and when? By whom? What deadlines are we facing? What constraints? What potential implementation problems might arise? What should be our contingency plane How will we monitor the progress of the implementation?