Preferred language style: English (U.K.) The Engineering Change on the shop floor (due September 15, 2011) An industrial engineer was assigned to an electronics assembly department to make some methods improvements. In one assembly operation he soon recognized that a new fixture might reduce labour costs by about 30 percent. He discussed the situation with the team leader and then the supervisor. The team leader was indifferent, but the supervisor was interested and offered some additional suggestions. Feeling that he had the supervisor¨«s approval, the engineer had the fixture made. With the permission of the supervisor, he assigned a woman assembler to try the fixture. She was cooperative and enthusiastic and on the first day exceeded the expected improvement by 30 percent. When the group leader was shown the results at the end of the day he claimed that this was one of the fastest workers in the department and that her results could not be generalised for the whole department The next day the engineer asked the supervisor for another operative to help prove the fixture. At this point the supervisor noted that the fixture did not include her ideas fully. The engineer explained that he had misunderstood, but that he would include the other suggestions in the next fixture built. The supervisor, however, continued to be negative about the fixture. When the engineer attempted to instruct the second woman the way he had instructed the first one, her reaction was negative. In fact, when he stopped instructing her, it seemed that the woman deliberately stalled as she used the fixture. She also made some negative comments about the fixture and asked the industrial engineer if he felt he deserved his paycheck for this kind of effort. At the end of the day this woman¨«s production was 10 percent below normal production by the old method. Mini Case Study Guide Form small discussion groups and analyze the causes of the problem. Drawing upon your collective understanding of the dynamics of change, and change models, what conclusions can be drawn and what recommendations should be made?
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