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Malcolm Baldrige
National Quality Award
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Sales by the woman-owned business approached $80 million in fiscal year 2000, continuing a six-year span in which sales have increased at an average annual rate exceeding 25 percent. Four major customers account for about 80 percent of sales. KARLEEs business strategy is to cultivate long-term relationships with companies that are among the global leaders in expanding markets. This focus permits the company to dedicate itself to providing high levels of service and to achieve sustainable levels of growth. KARLEE was named Texas Business of the Year in 2000, won the Texas Quality Award in 1999, and has achieved preferred supplier status with all major customers. KARLEE employs 550 people, who are called team members. Reflecting the ethnic mix of the region, its workforce is very diverse47 percent Hispanic, 8 percent African American, and 10 percent Asian.
On a Mission to Exceed Expectations KARLEE is organized as a team of teams that are unified by a shared mission. Whether executive, managerial, operational, administrative, or support, each team aims to exceed stakeholders expectations. Although this organizational ambition is not unique to KARLEE, the manufacturer does distinguish itself in the way it uses team approaches to promote an intense focus on the customer throughout the company. The company encourages open communications among teams, team participation in setting goals, and team responsibility for managing and improving processes. To foster a common sense of business direction, for example, KARLEE shuts down its manufacturing cells so that everyone can be included in company-wide meetings. The companys chief asset in motivating a shared commitment, however, may be the culture of mutual trust, honesty, and respect that KARLEE leadership actively encourages. An integrated
leadership system links KARLEEs present operational course to
its future direction. The Senior Executive Leader (SEL) team concentrates
on identifying and clarifying long-term strategic issues and opportunities,
including future customer requirements. The KARLEE Steering Committee,
consisting of the seven senior executives and the leaders of departmental
teams, distills the SELs five-year plan and its forward-looking
performance targets into annual business and operational objectives.
Decisions are guided by customer assessmentsbased on annual
survey results and almost daily customer feedbackand by equally
detailed reviews of KARLEEs performance, workforce, and operational
capabilities. To guide improvements in manufacturing and service performance, the company makes extensive use of benchmarking studies. Among other things, these comparisons help to eliminate potential blind spots resulting from difficulties in gathering information on competitor performance and capabilities. Annual goals are aligned with the companys five key business driverscustomer satisfaction; operational performance; financial performance; community service; and team member safety, satisfaction, and development. Members of the Steering Committee work with functional and cross-functional teams to translate the goals into improvement projects with measurable objectives. A complementary
but distinct output of the planning process is the companys
annual Hoshin, styled after the Japanese method for concentrating
organizational attention, energy, and resources on accomplishing the
tasks considered most vital to realizing a companys vision of
the future. In 2000, KARLEEs Hoshin was to optimize use of lean
manufacturing techniques. Continuing mastery of these techniques has,
in turn, helped the company to improve efficiency and productivity
and, as a result, benefit customers by reducing delivery times and
controlling costs. Operational performance and progress toward goals are tracked systematically and from several perspectivesfrom corporate to manufacturing cell to support function. Each goal and project has defined methods for measurement. By design, measures are inter-related, enabling executives to identify trends and issues at the organizational level and to drill down quickly to functional areas in need of improvement. KARLEEs corporate information system, implemented in the early 1980s and later upgraded in 1997, integrates all company data and enables accurate and, often, real-time data analysis. Manufacturing teams use statistical process control methods to monitor process performance. In addition, teams in all areas conduct monthly self-audits, and the Quality Assurance Department performs a monthly assessment of team performance, yielding a weighted quality rating for each team and each department. Results of these evaluations are posted on team, department, and corporate bulletin boards. This permits all team members to check progress toward accomplishing company objectives. Team Culture KARLEE promotes cooperation, collaboration, and initiative through its team structure. Teams are expected to perform at high levels and to take full responsibility for meeting the requirements of internal and external customers. Cross-training and job rotation are encouraged because they foster organizational flexibility and broaden the base of skills and knowledge needed to respond quickly to changing customer demands. Manufacturing cell teams are empowered to schedule work, manage inventory, and design the layout of their work areas. Every team has a budget for recognition and celebration, which complements the companys broader program of rewards and recognition. These range from free movie passes to monthly and quarterly awards for outstanding performance by team members and leaders. New approaches to cultivate the companys family atmosphere and to reinforce team member commitment to KARLEEs mission are recommended by the Cultural Advisory Committee. Members of this committee are chosen specifically to reflect the ethnic diversity of the companys workforce. Other vehicles for creating a climate of teamwork and mutual support include the KARLEE Cares Team, which members formed to help fellow workers during times of personal crisis. Also, the company has a policy of encouraging career advancement: 84 percent of its executives and management team leaders have been promoted from within the company. Flexible, Responsive, Proactive Aiming to be a strategic partner that adds value, KARLEE has been designated a preferred supplier by all of its four major customers. Besides its customer-focused workforce, the company uses advanced manufacturing and information technology to help it adjust quickly to new customer requirements. This total systems approach is led by dedicated customer-response teams. These teams leverage KARLEEs set of vertically integrated services to capture a growing share of business outsourced by its chief customers. KARLEE representatives participate on customers design and production-planning teams. Making prototype parts and products accounts for a growing share of the companys increasing volume of business. Between 1996 and 2000, production volumes tripled. Still, assembly lead times were trimmed from weeks to two or three days and, in some instances, to a few hours. Over the same period, KARLEEs surveys indicate that its customer satisfaction has improved by nearly a third. Advanced technology also is helping KARLEE reduce emissions and waste to levels below regulatory standards. For example, a shift to a dry powder-paint process is now well under way. When completed, it will eliminate all emissions of volatile organic compounds, a hazardous byproduct of wet painting. For more information,
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Created: November 21, 2000 |
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