is doing a good job important to you are
you willing to strive for ways to
improve your job or to open lines of
communication with your co-workers
management and your customer how about
helping to reduce costs if you are it
sounds like you're already personally
committed to improving productivity and
quality at work
what is productivity well in simplest
terms its finding a better way a quicker
way a less costly way to get the job
done or it's making changes both big and
small that will improve your work
environment and boost your morale like
better lighting or an upgraded computer
it's working smarter the management of
Bendix field engineering corporation is
concerned just like you are about
productivity about doing the job right
the first time and better the next time
and they want to enlist your help we
would like to explain the defect
commitment to productivity and
excellence and show how you can become a
key player in the process that leads to
success
most large companies and government
agencies have programs for employee
participation in improving productivity
these employees are widely known as
quality circles but you may know them by
other names NASA for example calls its
quality circles NASA employee teams or
nets in keeping with the corporate motto
of support Anytime Anywhere defect has
developed a formal program called p IQ e
where productivity improvement and
quality enhancement one aspect of this
program is the defect version of a
quality circle the productivity
enhancement team or pet later in this
tape will explain pets in more detail
and tell how you can become a key player
in the corporate drive for excellence
management commitment to productivity
company-wide and especially on the N mas
contract at Goddard Space Flight Center
is strong we believe that the person
doing the job knows more about that job
than anyone and we encourage that person
to tell us how we can do that job better
we ask ourselves are we smarter today
than we were yesterday and how do you
know as you all know productivity and
quality assurance play an important role
on the N mas contract and their
importance will continue to grow as we
work with NASA on this contract so where
does affect fit in with this drive for
improvement and more importantly where
do you fit in first some background
quality circles were introduced in the
United States in the early 1970s they
were popular for a few years then
started to die out President Reagan
revived the idea of the quality circle a
decade later with a proclamation that
productivity improvement is
national goal the accomplishment of
America's quality circles are impressive
solving problems in areas such as safety
training equipment efficiency quality
cost and morale in 1984 defect developed
its own concept and guidelines for
quality circles under the leadership of
Charles a rounds jr. our first director
of productivity by October of that year
the first pet was formed that first pet
called the first edition consistent of
ten enthusiastic volunteers from the
mosque documentation services group in
the next several months training
sessions were held for productivity
coordinators for pet advisers and more
new pets were started by the end of
nineteen eighty-five defect had 15 pets
100 members and ten coordinators all in
the columbia goddard area the following
year saw pets branch out to other BF x
sites such as the nasa ground terminal
at White Sands New Mexico the program
continued to grow in defects soon had 25
pets 148 members and 16 coordinators as
of December 1988 we had 36 pets 270
members in 34 coordinators and active
pets working on NASA contracts in
California New Mexico Bermuda Hawaii and
ascension island 18 of these pets were
on the N mas program
pets are just one part of the total
defect productivity program but they are
an important part to understand how they
fit into overall program let's look at
the program structure as part of the
defect productivity program pets are the
final link in a chain that begins with
the executive committee composed of Mary
Weingarten Phil Johnson and Joe Engel
the executive committee ensures company
support for the p.i QE program the
director of productivity Monty Kraus
coordinates p IQ e activities
communicates information to program
participants and chairs the productivity
council the council establishes plans
and guidelines for the program and works
to keep it running smoothly the
department productivity coordinators
serve as advisors for pets and interface
with the council on behalf of teams now
let's examine how our pets function pets
are small groups of volunteer employees
they usually consists of from four to
ten members pets meet weekly to examine
their work area and investigate and
solve the same type of problems the
quality circles across the country have
encountered the pet process includes a
training period when training is over
the pet moves on to identifying and
selecting a problem analyzing the
problem and presenting a solution to
manage me during training sessions team
members learn how to select and define
problems they learn a technique called
brainstorming they collect data perform
cause and effect analysis generate
solutions
and prepare formal presentations after
training pets are able to study and
discuss their work processes and
consider problem areas on their own they
then brainstorm a list of possible
projects discuss this list vote to
narrow the list down to a few choices
and vote again to choose the one problem
they will tackle once the problem has
been determined the team will collect
data and try to pinpoint the cause of
the problem through analysis the final
steps are to brainstorm for solutions
and present the most logical ones to
management for implementation the pet
process promotes employee involvement in
working together toward goals that are
in tune with defects overall policies
pets can and do influence decisions
about their jobs and job structures they
interest management in their problems
and receive recognition for solving
these problems as you can see the pet
provides a voice for employees who are
interested in making a difference how do
employees feel about being involved in
pets well we asked some members about
their participation and this is what
they said the pet process simply
reinforces the fact that Bendix is
looking toward making people more
productive in the workplace perhaps
making them happier because they don't
have as much frustration so I'm learning
something about how the department works
just by being involved with the pet
program it was a nice learning
environment for me through the pet team
I was able to learn how to solve
problems with the other people in my
department and I really enjoy the group
process the benefit i get from the pet
is more a feeling when when you when you
at the meeting and you're talking about
the project or whatever you get this
this feeling like you're really doing
something it's made me more aware of the
overall picture instead of just the
little part of the job that I have to do
I think that what being a pet team
member has really done is it shown me
what has to happen for change to take
place in my department well at first I
was a little apprehensive about my pet
involvement and my other activities but
since I've become more involved I feel
that my fellow workers also have looked
up to me and become more involved and
the changes that needed to be done the
pet provides me with an additional
Avenue to express what I feel needs to
be done it's also made it clear that the
solutions that a group of people can
come up with are many times better than
the solution that an individual person
might think up on their own and in my
daily work I've tried to employ that
it's easy to sit back and gripe and say
they are they ought to do something well
they is really us and this is the form
that you have to go out and do something
it makes me want to go out and do some
more things to contribute I made new
contacts that I didn't have before and
that has helped in going further on in
my in my job I perform my job a little
differently now when I deal with other
people it shows there something on lines
of the higher ups and a company more
than just trying to make the budget
balance you're trying to produce
something better more quality product I
feel pretty good about how management
recognized it's what we're doing you
know you you're frustrated with
something well here it is you know take
it head-on try and do something about so
I tell you gang get off your Duff and do
it productivity enhancement teams offer
employees the chance to develop
leadership skills to work with others as
part of the team to learn to analyze in
numbers in data to make decisions
concerning the workplace to work with
management to get the job done in a
better way the actual accomplishments of
pets have been impressive the inner
circle developed innovative methods to
reduce extensive paperwork in its
department resulting in a yearly cost
savings of over seven thousand dollars
the quality seekers impressed nasa and
goddard space flight center with a plan
of equipment acquisition and upgrades
the enhanced mission tracking in problem
resolution and aided in the retrieval of
critical Space Shuttle information the
problem Buster's confirmed the defect
commitment to maintain a safe and
productive work environment with its
safety awareness campaign at Goddard
Space Flight centers operational
facilities this type of involvement gets
noticed by co workers and management and
can result in awards and official
recognition as the result of their work
as a pet the quality seekers won the
NASA manned flight awareness award in
1987 the team was sent to Marshall Space
Flight Center in Huntsville Alabama
where they attended a reception with
astronauts and went to Space Camp pets
are also eligible to compete for the be
fed annual Chuck round award and pet
members have been instrumental in
helping defect win awards such as the US
Senate productivity award and the
Goddard Excellence Award both Juan in
1988 I think what is being honored here
and what this award really signifies to
me is Goddard's recognition of the
dedicated support that all bendix
employees have given to help Goddard
fulfill their mission now did you have a
better understanding
of how putts work and what they can
accomplish won't you consider becoming a
pet member or leader you will be helping
your office and the company by creating
a better place to work think about it by
starting or joining a pet you may find
that like many others at defect you're
working smarter
you