A sociotechnical work-design system at digital enfield: Utilizing untapped resources

A Sociotechnical Work= Design System at Digital

Enfield: Utilizing Untapped Resources

At Digital Equipment Corporation’s Enfield facility, the plant is viewed as a total system, with the

human element and technical system valued equally.

Barcy H. Proctor

D i g i t a l Equipment Corporation is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of networked computer systems and associated peripheral equipment and the leader in systems integration with its networks, com- munications, and software products.

Digital’s culture has always fostered what the company has referred to in its literature as a “high quality human environment, valuing business and people goals as interdependent and of equal impor- tance.”

This philosophy has been an integral part of our Enfield, Connecticut, manufacturing facility from its very beginning in 1981, when the design phase began. At this facility Digital funded a major investment in an innovative technology design- Enfield’s sociotechnical work-system design. By examining Digital Enfield, this article illustrates how Digital has

achieved a leading edge role in system integration and sociotechnical design. The purpose of this role is to enhance the organization’s world-class competi- tiveness through the achievement of significant productivity gains.

The organization’s accomplishments have been made possible by the utilization of resources that the traditional organizational design does not tap. These resources have proven to be vital to productivity enhancement at Digital Enfield.

Digital Enfield: an overview

Digital Enfield’s 200-employee plant has manufactured printed circuit board modules for com-

262 National Productivity Review

The multiskilled operating team members are trained to do eoerything necessary to

assemble a module.

puter storage systems since April 1983, when our first product was shipped. The feature of the facility that distinguishes us from other module-manufacturing plants is our organizational design. In our sociotechnical system the human element is valued equally with the technical system; the plant is viewed as a total system.

Enfield’s vision is unique. It emphasizes a participative team management and job enrichment approach to business. These principles radically change the way people think and work.

Enfield believes that people can and should be involved in decisions that affect their day-to-day working lives. People are empowered to act on their ideas. Team members become skilled in the whole manufacturing process- there are no more narrow, segmented, and compartmentalized jobs. Schedules are more flexible, and career growth is improved. Substantial leaps in productivity result from employees’ greater flexibility, sense of ownership, and em- powerment.

Enfield’s culture is one in which there is a strong emphasis on working together, on teaching each other, and on sharing in general. The level of responsibility placed upon people here is exceptional- ly high.

As a result of its sociotechnical design, En- field has been transformed from a traditional job- based organization to a team-based organization. Each of its operating teams manages a business dedi- cated to building a product (modules) all the way from the raw material to the shipping stage.

Today our plant has three business units. Each of these units has from one to four teams. In this system, employees are organized into operating teams of from twelve to eighteen members and acquire individual expertise in every step of the business process, including building and testing modules, planning their own work schedules, and interviewing and recom- mending the hire of new team members. The goal is to develop self-managing teams that think and act as if they owned and managed their own module-manufacturing business and therefore had responsibility for meeting product and plant goals.

These multiskilled operating team members are trained to do everything necessary to assemble a module, from kitting of raw materials through shipping finished modules. A person building the entire

module feels more responsibility for the work, and greater ownership of the products he or she is manufacturing, which is reflected in improved product quality and increased productivity.

Although the individual work steps in other module plants are the same, the way Enfield confi- gures the steps is totally different. In other plants, about twenty-six different people perform some twenty individual, segmented, and routine steps. Each employee has a specialized skill and does narrow, re- petitive tasks. But at Enfield, operating team members perform a broad range of work and are responsible for a total product. Each team member is trained in all the steps in the build process. This allows total flexibility, plus an increased feeling of commitment, ownership, and understanding among the team members, and therefore greater productivity. A skill-based pay system rewards team members for obtaining and demonstrating the necessary repertoire of skills and knowledge and the accompanying versa- tility.

Structure and organizational characteris tics

Enfield has a streamlined three-level hierarchy. Figure 1 shows the levels within this hierarchy and their relationships. The chart is not upside down; we’ve put our most important people at the top-cus- tomers and operating teams. On the right side of the figure are the three operating groups: the tapes group, the small disk group, and the large disk group. T I , T2, T3, and T4 are the teams belonging to each group. These teams, totaling 123 people, operate on three shifts and work on a flextime basis.

On the left side of the figure are the two support groups, which provide technical and administrative support for the facility. We have organized technical support into two areas, one that has a process focus, and one that has a product focus. The circle at the center of the larger circle representing these two areas denotes common work responsibilities that both areas share.

Likewise, the administrative support group is broken down into three or four subgroups-repre-

Summer 1986 263

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Management team members function less as decision makers and more as coaches.

sented by the circle containing T I , T2, and T3-each of which is focused on one of the various types of work (finance, human resources, and materials and purchasing). As with the technical support group, the administrative support subgroups have some common work responsibilities that all share.

Operating team responsibilities

Of the plant’s 190 nonmanagerial personnel, 123 are members of the operating teams. The teams’ comprehensive responsibilities include:

Technical support team responsibilities

The technical group’s responsibility for as- sessing the long-term impact of technology for the plant includes:

0 Advanced manufacturing technology (fu-

0 Test strategy; 0 Producibility/reliability/value engineering; 0 Component engineering; 0 Management information systems; 0 New product introduction; and 0 Facilities maintenance/security .

ture products and processes);

Administrative support team Selection and either transfer or separation of their own team members; Salary and benefits administration for responsibilities themselves; Affirmative action- ensuring that we have a multicultural organization that values dif-

The administrative support group is responsible for the ~ o ~ ~ o w i n ~ areas:

ferences; Training and development (including scheduling and tracking); Budgeting ; Material planning/receiving/distribution; Shipping of end product; Performance contracts, reviews, and feedback:

I

Compensation and benefits administration; Employment sourcing; Material management/purchasing; Financial consolidation; Accounts payable; Petty cash; and Payroll.

Engineering change orders (ECOs) encoun- Enfield’s mecia1 organizational characteristics tered during build;

0 Product quality; 0 Equipment maintenance; 0 Safety and first aid; 0 Goal performance; 0 Problem solving; and 0 Work schedules.

” require support persons who have the ability to inter- nalize their role and who see greater value in behaving as teacher-coaches who can share their knowledge with others rpther than acting as authority figures.

Management team responsibilities

Support teams’ responsibilities Another group that helps to increase productivity and keep quality yields high is our team management staff.

The plant has ten managers and no supervi- sors, inspectors, or coordinators. The behavior of our management team is crucial to our system, for man-

The remaining 67 nonmanagerial personnel make up our two support groups that do technical and administrative work.

Summer 1986 265

agement team members function less as decision makers and more as coaches, developing all the teams’ skill and knowledge. Building and improving a team requires a great deal of time and nurturing. The manager has to learn when to take the risk of stepping aside and letting people grow and develop by taking their own initiatives. Doing this effectively requires extensive training.

As is already apparent, the responsibilities of our management team are somewhat different from those of traditional plant management. These responsibilities include:

0 Conversion of external requirements to

0 Resource allocation; 0 Long-range planning; 0 Team training and development; 0 Team integration; 0 Conflict resolution (when unresolved by

0 Leadership in the decision process (through

0 Goal performance; and 0 Boundary management (internal and exter-

Our ideal state is one in which managers don’t have to make any decisions. Ideally, as teams become more skilled, and better at self-managing, and as people become more proficient in understanding the total business, they are able and empowered to make more decisions on their own. Putting the authority into the teams and teaching managers to develop more of a supportive than decision-making role makes the plant more responsive and dynamic.

plant goals;

teams);

facilitation);

nal).

Training and development

Because our goal is to enable team members to make decisions for themselves, training and development is a large investment for us, both in time and money.

Through our social training we try to ensure that people have all the skills necessary to grow and function, over time, as a team. The skills they learn

include problem solving, listening, facilitation, con- frontation, interpersonal relations, and feedback. Normally, these skills are associated with management. At Enfield, however, everyone in the plant must have these skills.

Technical training for the operating teams consists of developing the ability to build the product correctly from start to finish, as well as the ability to operate and maintain control of our process. The focus is on team development through individual, self-paced learning.

We believe that individuals are responsiblle for their own learning and that each person has the responsibility to develop and train him- or herself.

Training and development methodologies

We have divided our methodology into two segments: assimilation and skill training. Assimilia- tion is an important aspect of joining up with our organization. Through the assimilation process, people become more familiar with the Enfield culture and


The operating team members are responsible for the accurate documentation of each

production step.

more familiar with what we expect of them, and have an opportunity to model their behavior in the ways that are appropriate to our organizational environment.

In the assimilation process, individuals start on a learning path by hooking up with a sponsor. Meanwhile, they also attend an intensive, week-long, across-the-plant assimilation workshop provided to all of Enfield’s new hires. The workshop is conducted by our organizational design manager and/or consultants.

Skill training is more technical than assimilation and is product-focused as opposed to process-focused. Specifically, shortly after coming to Enfield, operating team members complete a three-month training program concentrating on technical skills, but incorporating the social skills as well. The training is conducted by an organizational design consultant along with a from one-to-three-member operating team task force. After completion of this training program, each individual must pass a “floor” certification test, administered by other certified team members, to show that he or she can build a specific product from start to finish (i.e., complete the twenty to twenty-six separate steps). There is a separate training module (basic operating step [BOS]) for each step required to build the product.

The operating team members are responsible for the accurate documentation of each step, using support resources as needed. This documentation is designed to control variances and help people under- stand why they are doing things and includes necessary safety precaution procedures as well as the profi- ciency expected for each step. Documentation also provides a certification mechanism to ensure that each team member is tested for the skills necessary in building the‘ product correctly.

Once they have been floor-certified, depend- ing on team needs and individual team members’ in- terests, team members can begin to learn other necessary team support functions, such as interviewing, budgeting, spending analysis, preventive maintenance, cycle counting, planning and purchasing, and expediting and follow-up. Support team members are used as resources, aIong with operating team members, to produce specific training modules for these functions, including certification and training criteria.

Computer-based learning system (CBLS)

The training documentation for support work has been piloted on a computer-based learning system (CBLS). (The product-build training packages [BOS] will be placed on this system as well.) Since all learning information is on-line and available for plantwide access, the documentation is easily computer accessed by each team member at his or her terminal. This system facilitates two results important to our basic philosophy: plantwide self-paced learning and computer literacy.

Additionally, CBLS was designed to provide capabilities for performance contracting, scheduling, and tracking certifications.

As a result of our training, our employees have an unusually broad repertoire of social and technical skills. Our vision is that everyone know everything.

Also because of our training, our organization is very adaptable to change and flexible in solving such common problems as equipment downtime and delayed shipments.

Reward system and philosophy

One of the key elements of our organizational model is the reward system, of which pay is a component. Our reward system is designed to reinforce and motivate people to achieve desired outcomes.

Our approach to rewards is to encourage and reward for acquiring, demonstrating, and applying skill and knowledge. We want to maximize people’s talents.

This is essential in our high-technology environment, where products and processes are constantly changing. The manufacturing environment that can respond quickly to changes has an edge on the com- petition. The more people learn, the more flexible they become in applying what they know to new and often sudden challenges. Team members can work where they are most needed, whether the need results from a technological advance or a vacation schedule; that is, they are adaptive to change. We are convinced

Summer 1986 267

In contrast to other facilities, eueryone has a desk, a telephone, and a computer.

that people want to learn and will be more satisfied, personally and professionally, when they do.

Consequently, we have developed a skill- based pay system for the operating teams, which are a nonexempt, all-salaried work force. There are seven pay points in this system-Entry 1, Entry 2, Floor, and A, B, C, and D Skill Blocks. For all seven skill blocks, there is a certification process administered by the operating teams. The system includes two entry points-Entry 1 and Entry 2-that reflect the kind of skill and knowledge employees bring with them.

A condition for employment for every operating team member is floor certification, reflecting the ability to build the total product.

The growth paths for teams are both horizontal and vertical. The vertical growth path, which repre- sents the traditional pattern of skills development, is the ability to progress upwards in a particular disci- pline.

The horizontal growth path allows team members to broaden their perspective and learn more about the total business.

Information system

The information system that supports our plant is a VAX cluster with work stations and process equipment linked to the cluster via our ETHERNET local area network. Information flows within the plant over this network. Since we are part of a large corporation, we also participate in a corporatewide network.

Computer literacy is a required skill, and each employee has a terminal. Our plant communication occurs primarily via electronic mail, for which we are using Digital’s Baseway product to collect data from our process equipment and to maintain control over the process. The Allin-1 software package provides us with an integrated solution to our office needs, an approach that is enhanced both by a standard menu system for total integration and by our computer-based learning system.

These systems facilitate the open flow of the information that enables people to be more effective. The facility’s physical configuration is designed to re-

flect the open layout concept; low partitions ensure that everyone has eye and voice contact. In contrast to other facilities, everyone has a desk, a telephone, and a computer.

The operating teams usually have daily half- hour meetings concerning individual schedules, problems on the line, interpersonal problems, and quality yields. There are group meetings to review group goals, etc. Each group has its own schedule of meetings, either weekly or monthly. Similarly, support teams meet either weekly or monthly. There is also a monthly meeting of the plant community-one for first and second shift and another for the third, at which the financial status of the company, the group, and the plant are discussed, and a roll-up of team results is shared. This is in line with our belief that everyone should have greater access to information. The more people know, the greater their understanding, commitment, etc .

Information flow and decision making

Another key element in the organizational design is the decision and information flow process.

We believe that decisions should be made as close as possible to the work. The people who are doing the work, that is, building the products, should make the decisions that affect them. Therefore, we need information flow towards the work to support this decision-making process.

Traditionally, the information flows towards the hierarchy rather than toward the work. Accord- ingly, the higher up one is in an organization, the more information one receives.

But since at Enfield each employee has broad responsibilities, we want the people doing the work to get the most information. People at this plant are responsible for accessing and applying information to make decisions. Thus, everyone needs access to integrated data so that they can make decisions based on the overall situation. Hence, we share a great deal of data, believing that the more people know, the better they will be able to do their work and the greater will be their commitment and productivity.

To do this sharing, we use a set of integrated


Because Enfield employees haoe a high degree of responsibility, they are entitled to a high

quality of work life.

tools. They must be simple and flexible so that everyone can use them. They must meet individual needs, since no two people solve problems the same way.

Social guidelines

Social guidelines must fit the characteristics of their organizational environment. Those at Enfield reflect the fact that we are people-oriented, giving employees a wide range of responsibilities across traditional boundaries, within a context of teamwork. Our social guidelines for the production area include:

0 Pull people together (no walls between

0 Facilitate eye contact between people by

0 Permit as much voice communication as

0 Maintain product ownership by individuals

0 Do as much work in one place as possible;

0 Optimize human beings, not machine posi-

Traditionally, organizations tend to discourage eye contact and voice contact, under the misappre- hension that when people are talking, productivity suffers. We have found, however, that such contact facilitates information flow and creates a productive atmosphere, particularly since in our operation people are working in teams.

pieces of equipment);

appropriate positioning of equipment;

possible;

for as long as possible;

and

tioning/accessibility .

As already noted, we require all members of the operating teams to learn each step needed to build a specific product. We do this because we prefer to maintain product ownership by individuals as long as possible, so that each person builds the total product.

We also like to keep a tight loop on material handling, from receiving through the entire process to shipping, ensuring that as much work be done at one place as possible. And more importantly, we wanted to optimize people, not machine positioning or accessibility at the expense of people.

Quality of work life

Because at Enfield we give employees a high degree of responsibility and expect a high degree of commitment, we feel that they are entitled to a corre- spondingly high quality of work life.

Teams set their own hours; we don’t have time clocks or security guards. Instead, we have flextime, and each employee has his or her own security card/ key.

As part of the company’s wellness program, we have a volleyball court, ping pong tables, a physical fitness room with a Nautilus system, and weight lifting and treadmill equipment. Aerobic and stress- management classes are available with a local college instructor on site three days weekly. Women’s and men’s locker rooms are adjacent to the fitness room.

An outdoor running path, stations, and a soft- ball field are also in frequent use.

There are plants at each work station as well as throughout the manufacturing area. The purpose is not only to enhance the quality of work life, but to imple- ment the policy of minimizing status differences.

Results

After two years of production beginning in 1983, the achievements at Enfield have been substantial. Implementation of product start-up was on schedule, itself an achievement resulting from the sociotechnical design. In addition, the following represent

Summer 1986 269

gains over traditional module-manufacturing stan- dards and facility requirements:

0 40-percent time reduction in the standard module-building process;

0 One-day cycle time, and balanced line with continuous flow of daily shipments;

0 Just-in-Time inventory system, with no in- coming inspection, stockrooms, or buffers in work-in-process;

0 Eight inventory turns; 0 Six fixed-asset turns (compared to the tradi-

tional one or two); 0 Product yield included twice as many mod-

ules; 0 Equivalent output with half the people and

half the space; 0 Scrap reduced by 50 percent; 0 $1 million savings on fit-up of plant utiliz-

0 40-percent reduction in overhead, resulting ing the open layout concept; and

in a lower break-even.

Conclusion

The gains at Digital Enfield have not come easily, and we have learned that many factors are

essential to the success of the sociotechnical work- system design. The vision and values of a leader who conceives and guides the effort are essential, as is the support of top management. Hard work and strain are required of all concerned. A large investment in training is necessary. Learning to manage a different kind of culture, based on explicit values and consensus rather than control, poses a great challenge.

Emotional issues also need to be faced. Imple- menting the design means coping with loneliness, since the pioneering, nontraditional nature of the effort makes communication with peers outside one’s own facility very difficult. The fears of middle management have to be dealt with, as well as the emotions that inevitably come to the surface in a system in which people must work in close cooperation.

But the competitive advantage that the sociotechnical work-system design gives us justifies the effort that has gone into implementing this innovative design.

Barcy H. Proctor is the human resource manager at Digital’s Enfield facility, as well as a team member of both the plant’s management team and human resource team (administrative support group). She was a member of the original 198 1 En- field Socio-tech Organizational Design Team. Among other roles, she was responsible for developing Enfield’s innovative pay system.


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A sociotechnical work-design system at digital enfield: Utilizing untapped resources