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speed is a component of quality one of the things we must deliver to satisfy customers |
companies that actually market speed as part of their service train their managers to lead and participate in teams that increase speed and improve quality in everyday operations |
managers learn to spot opportunities to increase customer satisfaction through speed and shift some responsibility for analyzing improving and streamlining work processes from themselves to teams of employees |
one team at the federal express ground operations station in <unk> mass. focused on a particularly <unk> operation the morning package sort |
every morning <unk> trucks arrive at the <unk> ground station from boston 's <unk> airport carrying the day 's package load |
in peak periods that load may include N pieces |
the packages must be <unk> quickly and distributed to smaller vans for delivery so <unk> can be on the road by N |
no customer is present at the morning package sort but the process is nevertheless critical to customer satisfaction |
we 're committed to deliver the customer 's package by a stated time usually N notes glenn <unk> a federal express <unk> who led the <unk> team |
the sooner our vans hit the road each morning the easier it is for us to fulfill that obligation |
following a <unk> formula used by teams throughout federal express members of the <unk> team monitored their morning routine carefully noting where and when the work group 's resources were used effectively and where they were idle waiting for others <unk> in the process to send packages their way |
we suspected there was <unk> built into our process |
but we did n't know just where it was until we completed our data gathering mr. <unk> says |
we used the data to <unk> our <unk> system and put our resources where they could do the most good |
the team even created a points system to identify those <unk> and <unk> that were doing the most to reduce <unk> cycle time |
winners of the friendly competition earn a <unk> dinner out with their spouses |
monitoring shows that the <unk> team 's new system really does reduce cycle time for the morning package sort reports james <unk> chief operating officer at federal express |
the vans leave at least N minutes earlier on average than they used to |
and service levels have increased to the point where they 're consistently above N N |
a <unk> team at union carbide 's <unk> n.y. facility which produces <unk> plants followed a similar path to reduce manufacturing cycle time |
the team included <unk> from the shop floor as well as engineering scheduling and purchasing personnel reports alan <unk> director of quality |
first they produced a <unk> detailing the process by which an <unk> plant actually gets built |
then they identified <unk> in the process |
the <unk> team determined that <unk> for <unk> were the main problem and identified which kinds of delays involved critical <unk> and which were less critical or could be handled by workers already on the line |
the team then proposed modifications in their work process to management |
the <unk> manufacturing process benefits our customers in at least two ways mr. <unk> concludes |
first we have better quality assurance than ever because the people building the product have taken on more responsibility for the quality of their own work |
second we trimmed more than a month off the time required to deliver a finished product |
at grumman 's aircraft systems division a <unk> team reduced the cycle time required to produce a new business proposal for an important government contract |
the team was composed of representatives from engineering manufacturing corporate estimating flight test material quality control and other departments |
we needed contributions from all these departments to generate the proposal says carl <unk> <unk> manager for grumman 's <unk> combat aircraft program |
but instead of gathering their input <unk> we formed the team which reached consensus on the proposal objectives and produced a statement of work to guide all the functions that were involved |
armed with this shared understanding and <unk> background information each department developed its specialized contribution to the proposal <unk> data and cost estimates on a closely managed schedule |
we cleared up questions and <unk> very quickly because the people who had the skills and perspective required to resolve them were part of the task team mr. <unk> explains |
the team trimmed more than two months from the cycle time previously required to develop comparable proposals |
the team eliminated the crisis mentality that proposal deadlines can generate |
the result was a more <unk> complete and competitive proposal mr. <unk> concludes |
the successes achieved at federal express union carbide and grumman suggest that managing speed may be an <unk> source of competitive advantage |
managers in all three companies recognize speed as a component of quality and a key to customer satisfaction |
they effectively lead team efforts to reduce cycle time |
and they prepare all their people to increase the speed and improve the quality of their own work |
mr. <unk> is president of <unk> a consulting firm in burlington mass |
home taping of <unk> music cuts into record industry revenues but banning home taping would hurt consumers even more |
that 's the conclusion of an independent report prepared by the office of technology assessment at the request of the house and senate judiciary committees |
the report is to be released today |
the report says the availability of such advanced <unk> recording equipment as <unk> recorders does n't seem to increase the quantity of home copying |
that finding the report says <unk> doubt on the record industry 's <unk> that the new generation of digital recording equipment will inevitably lead to wholesale abuse of <unk> material by home <unk> |
the longstanding position of the recording industry association of america a trade group based in washington d.c. is that record companies performers <unk> and music publishers need to be <unk> by <unk> fees on the sale of blank tapes and recording equipment to make up for royalties lost to home taping |
i think it is a <unk> in the <unk> in any royalty tax proposal says gary shapiro vice president for government and legal affairs of the electronic industries association in washington |
what the report shows is everything we 've been saying for the past eight or nine years that audio taping is the best thing to happen for the recording industry |
the people who tape the most buy the most |
<unk> <unk> a <unk> for <unk> says her organization has n't received a copy of the completed report yet and has no immediate comment |
a recent agreement between the recording industry and electronics manufacturers requires that any digital audio tape or <unk> recorder sold in the u.s. have a <unk> device that restricts its ability to make second copies from <unk> tape copies of digital compact disks |
but the disappointing sales of <unk> machines here and abroad so far have not seemed to warrant the three years of legal <unk> that went into the agreement |
under current copyright laws it is considered fair use to <unk> <unk> material for one 's personal use or for use by one 's family or friends while copying for purposes of resale or profit is prohibited |
a survey contained in the <unk> report copyright and home copying technology challenges the law found that most people consider home copying for such personal use a right a right moreover that was exercised by N N of americans over the age of N in the past year |
the study says that the <unk> legal status of home copying makes it appropriate to examine the effects on consumers as well as on industry |
reports by the office of technology assessment do n't <unk> any specific legislative action but suggest a range of options that congress may pursue |
the study also says that advent of new communications technologies makes an explicit congressional definition of the legal status of home copying more desirable in order to reduce legal and market uncertainties and to prevent de <unk> changes to copyright law through technology and says that finding an appropriate bal... |
switzerland 's most famous raider says he is n't one |
werner k. rey believes fortunes are made by being friendly |
and in little more than a decade of being friendly and at the same time <unk> the <unk> swiss business community with some <unk> <unk> and dealing the <unk> mr. rey has grown from a modest banker to a billionaire |
he achieved this in part with an <unk> talent for getting his foot <unk> in the door of established european companies |
his latest coup september 's <unk> of the five billion <unk> $ N billion merger between <unk> s.a. the world 's second-largest temporary employment agency and <unk> international s.a. a <unk> <unk> company |
shareholders must approve the merger at general meetings of the two companies in late november |
but approval is almost certain since mr. rey and a friendly <unk> management are in control |
after the transaction mr. rey estimates the value of his N N stake in the new company to be held by his omni holding ag will be about N billion swiss francs |
this will be his return on an original investment of between N million swiss francs and N million swiss francs |
mr. rey bought a controlling stake in <unk> for N million swiss francs in N building up the <unk> engineering company with european and u.s. acquisitions |
i like to succeed says mr. rey during a recent morning of working at home which he also likes |
home is an estate with green <unk> opening onto lake geneva and a <unk> house whose rooms <unk> the water and offer a view of the french <unk> |
in the corner of his reception room is a delicate <unk> desk <unk> high with <unk> |
there is a small <unk> on the wall |
<unk> magazine <unk> lists mr. rey as having a fortune of about N billion swiss francs |
writes <unk> no one in switzerland ever came so far so fast |
he was simply the first in this country to realize that <unk> were just lying around waiting to be picked up |
in short rey found companies with weak earnings but rich assets |
however the swiss financial press in general as well as many analysts have had a hard time making up their minds about mr. rey and his <unk> ways |
for switzerland 's most prestigious newspaper <unk> <unk> <unk> mr. rey seems <unk> to remain the former bally raider an image that has proved hard to overcome |
in N as an <unk> in the eyes of switzerland 's establishment mr. rey laid the foundations of his <unk> <unk> with an <unk> <unk> on bally the country 's traditional <unk> |
sitting <unk> a banker at a <unk> in london where he was working as a financial consultant he learned that a large <unk> of bally 's shares was up for sale |
looking into bally he could hardly believe what he saw a company with enormous real-estate holdings in major european cities and a market capitalization of N million swiss francs it had N employees |
investing four million swiss francs earned from his financial transactions and two million swiss francs from his parents and his wife mr. rey acquired N N of bally 's shares |
but such tactics were <unk> to switzerland in N and still are n't common because of share restrictions that companies are allowed to maintain |
eventually mr. rey was forced to sell his bally shares to the weapons maker <unk> holding ag as establishment pressure grew on this hostile move into the swiss old boys ' network |
mr. rey made N million swiss francs on the sale |
bally was not an unfriendly takeover he insists |
buying from willing shareholders makes an unfriendly takeover impossible mr. rey contends |
i bought from willing shareholders |
nevertheless mr. rey has been very careful since then to make sure his moves are welcome |
and he has worked to shed his raider image |
in N his career as an <unk> began with the acquisition of the swiss metals works <unk> based in <unk> |
with the <unk> metals business undermined in switzerland by tough foreign competition and high domestic costs this looked like a <unk> undertaking |
but mr. rey brought about a merger in the next few years between the country 's major producers the increased efficiency has <unk> up the industry |
three years later machinery producer <unk> de <unk> <unk> de <unk> s.a. was to become part of the rey empire |
once again the company 's future looked less than <unk> |
but after restructuring under new management the profits began rolling in |
a major boost to mr. rey 's respectability among the swiss came in N when he sold N N of his <unk> bank to the conservative swiss <unk> banks |
they renamed it swiss <unk> and are using it to expand abroad |
in N mr. rey <unk> leading publishing houses to take over switzerland 's jean <unk> ag a major producer of magazines and newspapers |
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