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    TecSmart Case Desriptions

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    TecSmart Electronics has many strengths across Deming's 14 points and the Baldrige criteria. They set clear objectives, gather customer feedback, train employees, use teams, and focus on continuous improvement. While TecSmart excels in many areas, opportunities for improvement include strengthening strategic planning by setting goals, benchmarks, and improvement cycles. They could also address tracking and comparing financial and social responsibility results against goals and benchmarks.

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    TecSmart Case Desriptions

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    Nap Missionnaire
    86 views4 pages
    TecSmart Electronics has many strengths across Deming's 14 points and the Baldrige criteria. They set clear objectives, gather customer feedback, train employees, use teams, and focus on continuous improvement. While TecSmart excels in many areas, opportunities for improvement include strengthening strategic planning by setting goals, benchmarks, and improvement cycles. They could also address tracking and comparing financial and social responsibility results against goals and benchmarks.

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    Descriptive Analyses in TecSmart Case

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    TecSmart Electronics has many strengths across Deming's 14 points and the Baldrige criteria. They set clear objectives, gather customer feedback, train employees, use teams, and focus on continuous improvement. While TecSmart excels in many areas, opportunities for improvement include strengthening strategic planning by setting goals, benchmarks, and improvement cycles. They could also address tracking and comparing financial and social responsibility results against goals and benchmarks.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    86 views4 pages

    TecSmart Case Desriptions

    Uploaded by

    Nap Missionnaire
    TecSmart Electronics has many strengths across Deming's 14 points and the Baldrige criteria. They set clear objectives, gather customer feedback, train employees, use teams, and focus on continuous improvement. While TecSmart excels in many areas, opportunities for improvement include strengthening strategic planning by setting goals, benchmarks, and improvement cycles. They could also address tracking and comparing financial and social responsibility results against goals and benchmarks.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    of 4

    CASE QUESTION

    I. TecSmart Electronics

    1. TecSmart Electronics strengths (abbreviated) may be numbered for


    identification, as follows:

    (1) Senior leaders set company objectives and guide cross-functional


    teams to review and develop individual plans.
    (2) Senior leaders participate in quarterly communication meetings with
    all employees to discuss company issues and answer questions.
    (3) Senior leaders teach courses in TecSmart University; meet with
    customers, suppliers, and benchmarking partners; and are actively
    engaged in professional and community organizations.
    (4) The company collects operational data in every department and
    evaluates its information.
    (5) TecSmart has set Six Sigma goals for most of its processes.
    (6) All employees are trained in a 5-step problem solving process.
    (7) Inputs to the strategic planning process include customer feedback,
    market research, and benchmarking information from customers,
    suppliers, competitors, and industry leaders, etc. The CEO reviews
    progress every month.
    (8) TecSmart uses over a dozen different processes to gather customer
    information, and validates the information.
    (9) All employees receive customer relationship training.
    (10) All complaints are handled by the Vice President of Sales and resolved
    within 2 days.
    (11) Customer satisfaction data is acquired from sales representatives, etc.
    and these data are reviewed and compared by the executive team
    during the strategic planning process.
    (12) TecSmart uses self-managed work groups where employees make most
    day-to-day decisions while managers focus on coaching and process
    improvement.
    (13) The average employee receives 72 hours of internal quality/service-
    related training.
    (14) Employees have been surveyed each year to gauge how effectively the
    company has implemented Demings 14 Points.
    (15) Cross-functional teams guide product development, which includes
    four interim reviews by executive management.
    (16) New product introduction teams work with design engineers and
    customers to ensure that design requirements are met and SPC is used
    to monitor variation, provide a basis for corrective action, and optimize
    processes.
    (17) Quality is assessed through internal audits, employee opinion surveys,
    and customer feedback.
    (18) Suppliers are involved in early stages of a product development
    program and quality requirements for suppliers have been identified.

    When related to Demings new version of his 14 points we can see:

    1. Create a Statement of Purpose. TecSmart has a focus on quality,


    service, and value. This is also reinforced by #1 and #2. By making
    plans (#1), and cascading them down the organization, the leadership
    team can focus on the three key values. By holding quarterly
    communication meetings (#2), senior leaders can reinforce their
    statement of purpose.
    2. Learn the New Philosophy. A dedication to learning is shown in #3, #7,
    and #13. The best way to learn is to teach something, as the executives
    do in #3. They are also learning as they gather inputs for the strategic
    planning process in #7. Finally, in #13, provision is made not only for
    training, but learning through the quality/service-related training
    sessions.
    3. Understand Inspection. Inspection is not explicitly addresses, but items
    4, 5, 6, and 8, among others, show that decisions based on facts, which
    can involve inspection, are routinely made.
    4. End Price Tag Decisions. The basis on which decisions are made for
    purchasing parts and services is not discussed. However, item #18
    states that suppliers are involved in early stages of a product
    development program. That implies that there is a close working
    relationship between the company and suppliers, and that cost concerns
    are discussed and worked out to minimize quality issues.
    5. Improve Constantly. A process is in place to train employees in a 5-step
    problem solving process (#6), and new processes are documented and
    variation in ongoing processes is monitored for corrective action (#16).
    6. Institute Training. As stated earlier, training and learning seem to be
    built into the fabric of the company, such that executives teaching
    courses at TecSmart University (#3). Customer relationship training is
    also required for all employees (#9). Also, in #13, provision is made
    for 72 hours of training on service/quality topics, and sales, engineers,
    office staff, and managers must all be trained.
    7. Teach and Institute Leadership. Leadership is evident in objective-
    setting (#1), communication and teaching (#2 and 3), planning (#7),
    complaint resolution (#10), and middle management coaching (#12).
    8. Drive Out Fear and Innovate. While driving out fear is not specifically
    addressed, it seems likely that the quarterly communication sessions
    (#2) with top management, employee empowerment (#12) through
    self-managed teams, and the annual employee surveys (#14) would do
    a great deal to reduce or eliminate fear.
    9. Optimize the Efforts of Teams and Staff. Teams and staff have been
    organized and are used constantly as indicated by items 1, 4, 6, 7, 12,
    15, 16, and 18.
    10. Eliminate Exhortations. Goals are set (#5) and measurement processes
    are used extensively (#8 and #11), but exhortations are never
    mentioned.
    11. Eliminate Quotas and MBO; Institute Improvement; and Understand
    Processes. Again, no mention is made of quotas or MBO.
    Understanding of the need for improvement, and to know the
    characteristics of processes abounds.
    12. Remove Barriers. #12 states that Hourly workers can make process
    changes with the agreement of only one person, and sales people are
    authorized to travel wherever they feel it necessary for customer
    service.
    13. Encourage Education. Learning, training, and education seem to all be
    inter-related at TecSmart. Nothing was explicitly stated about
    education, however.
    14. Take Action. The company has taken action to institute quality on a
    number of fronts, already.

    2. TecSmart Electronics strengths (abbreviated see above) can also be


    classified according to the Baldrige criteria, as follows.

    The seven categories in the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Management


    include:

    1. Leadership. Items 1, 2, 3, and 7.


    2. Strategic Planning. Items 1 and 7.
    3. Customer and Market Focus. Items 8, 9, 10, 11, 15, and 17.
    4. Measurement, Analysis, and Knowledge Management. Items 4, 5, 7, 8, 11,
    16, and 17.
    5. Human Resource Focus. Items 1, 6, 9, 12, and 14.
    6. Process Management. Items 4, 8, 16, and 18.
    7. Business Results. Items 2, 3, 4, 7 and 17.

    3. Its difficult to find obvious opportunities for improvement because


    TecSmart Electronics has so many obvious strengths. However, strategic
    planning (Category 2) appears to be an area where some improvement could
    take place. No mention is made of how goals are set, benchmarks are chosen,
    or cycles of improvement in the planning process take place. Also, other than
    managers who are involved in professional and community organizations, no
    mention is made of how the company addresses social responsibility
    obligations. In addition, goal setting for financial objectives is not mentioned.
    In Business Results (Category 7), no mention is made of processes used to
    track business results, or how they are compared with internal trends and
    external benchmarks. Also, there are no references to measurement of social
    responsibility results versus goals.

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