Abstract - Quest for Global Competitiveness - Universidad de Puerto ...

The others, unfortunately, were not doing nearly as well. But if Helen could bring the others'performance in line with theirs, there was real hope. She asked Frank and Carol to comparenotes and document what they did, how they did it, in what order, and so on, in great detail.When they had finished, she had them share their successful practices with the others in aspecial training session. With only two days left before the end of the month, she knew thesession probably wouldn't have a huge impact on that month's numbers, but at least theimprovement should carry through to the next month and make a real difference.Given the attention to the numbers, the month’s numbers were disappointing, but no surprise:1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12Adam 9 6 11 14 14 15 17Barbara 8 5 4 7 8 4 15Carol 9 10 14 10 9 7 3Don 15 5 12 13 8 9 12Ellie 10 7 5 9 10 10 17Frank 2 14 6 6 12 9 2Total 53 47 52 59 61 54 66The total number of defective units was at an all-time high. That was certainly nothing to cheerabout, of course, but at least Carol and Frank had only five defects between them, and had justtaught everyone else their best practices in machine adjustments. Helen and the team felt theyhad some reason to be cautiously optimistic for the next month.John’s reaction was understandably more reserved. Yes, it was great that Carol and Frank hadhad breakthroughs, but the question of what could be expected from the others was still open,and there was no room for error. And even with the stellar performances from Carol and Frank,the total number of defective units for the month was higher than it had ever been.As the eighth month progressed, the team’s cautious optimism evaporated. Despite everyone'sbest efforts, the numbers were not good. Even Carol and Frank regressed. After only two weeksthey had eight and four defects, respectively; after three weeks, it was up to 13 and seven. Theentire team was already expecting the worst by the time the final results were reported:1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12Adam 9 6 11 14 14 15 17 8Barbara 8 5 4 7 8 4 15 7Carol 9 10 14 10 9 7 3 15Don 15 5 12 13 8 9 12 16Ellie 10 7 5 9 10 10 17 14Frank 2 14 6 6 12 9 2 8Total 53 47 52 59 61 54 66 6816