Pratt & Whitney is a leader in the development and manufacturing of gas turbine engines for commercial and military aircraft. Economic conditions for the airline and defense industries are forcing the airplane engine builders to restructure. Ed Northern, a new general manager of one of Pratt & Whitney's largest plants, is determined to transform the North Haven plant into a world-class manufacturing organization.
As part of the restructuring effort underway at the Pratt & Whitney North Haven plant, Ed Northern and a group of Japanese consultants are transforming the manufacturing process from a batch process to a single-piece flow, and are organizing the machines and workers in product cells. Vane Cell 6 is the first cell to be created at North Haven. Business Unit Manager Garrett Mikits is faced with a challenge as the creation of Vane Cell 6 nears completion. A new order, which represents a large volume increase, challenges Mikita and his workers to find a way to increase production.
As part of the Pratt & Whitney North Haven restructuring effort, Ed Northern and his business unit managers are encouraging workers to make decisions and take an active role in improving the manufacturing process at North Haven. Business Unit Manager Tom Hutton has empowered a group of hourly workers to purchase grit blast equipment for two cells. The capital purchase decision runs into some problems when the two cells, the vapor coat and pack coat cells, fail to reach an agreement about which equipment to purchase.
Because of conflicts between the vapor coat and pack coat cells over the decision to purchase new grit blast equipment, Business Unit Manager Tom Hutton has decided to form a second capital purchase team that will represent the pack coat cell. Meanwhile, the first capital purchase team has decided to purchase MacCormick equipment, traditionally considered less reliable than other equipment. Hutton is having misgivings about his decision to empower workers to purchase equipment, and wonders whether he should approve the purchase.