Abstract

The purpose of this project was to assess the Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP) program of Michigan-based manufacturing company, and develop, implement, and evaluate an intervention plan designed to improve the effectiveness of the cross-functional team responsible for administering the program.

Following personal observations, surveys of team members, and interviews with team leaders, the ineffectiveness of the team was attributed to team members lacking accountability to the team, and a generalized apathy towards existing policies and procedures.

The intervention was designed to address the key issues of team management, team leadership, and team development. The primary objective of the intervention was to enable company personnel to recognize these issues, understand their impact, and take the steps needed to correct these problem areas.  The intervention consisted of a series of in-house seminars combined with implementation guidance. The topics addressed included the rationale behind the use of work teams, reasons why many work teams fail, developmental stages of work teams, the role and responsibilities of the team leader regarding team development, leadership skills and management skills, common problems encountered by team leaders, and the benefits of effective work teams.

The goal of objective #1 was to reduce the number and severity of internal audit violations attributable to the APQP team by 10%. The actual results indicated an improvement of more than 82% in this area following the intervention. These results are based on comparisons of pre-intervention and post-intervention internal audit results conducted by company personnel as part of the compliance requirements for the ISO-9002 and QS-9000 systems in place at the company.

The goal of objective #2 was to reduce the number and severity of problems experienced during the launch of new products or manufacturing processes managed by the APQP team by 10%. The actual results indicate an improvement of 63.8% following the intervention. These results are based on the comparison of pre-intervention and post-intervention launches of new products and processes. The comparison was performed by a team of company personnel directly involved in each of the launches evaluated.

The intervention focused on three primary areas; team management, team leadership, and team development. While the focus of this project was limited to the APQP team, the elements of the intervention are applicable to most work teams at most companies.