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Intro/Background
A division of Loral Space & Communi-
Space Systems/Loral needed a more proactive
cations, Space Systems/Loral is one
of the world’s largest designers and
management culture to help the company increase
manufacturers of satellites and satel-
lite systems. Since the emergence
its market share of the highly competitive, highly
of the space age more than 45 years
ago, Loral has developed satellites
complex satellite manufacturing industry. For Space
for numerous applications, including
weather monitoring, TV broadcasting, Systems/Loral, this involved providing its front-line
direct-to-home TV services, digital
audio radio, and broadband, wireless, management team with new operational processes
and military communications.
and training tools to help reduce costs and increase
Loral operates in a highly complex
industry, which is not only very com- annual satellite production without compromising
petitive in terms of winning satellites
projects, but also must take into quality. Partnering with DeWolff, Boberg &
account the varied political interests
of the countries over which the satel- Associates was the clear solution to help Space
lites are positioned. Loral oversees
every facet of a project, from design- Systems/Loral create a more efficient culture.
ing and hand-building the satellite to
launching and placing it in the proper
orbital location in space. Since most
satellites must operate in space with-
out failure for a minimum of 15 years,
Loral’s success depends on ensuring
each satellite adheres to strict qual-
ity at every stage of production and
operation.
The DeWolff, Boberg & Associates Guarantee is more than a Further adding to productivity chal-
lenges, DeWolff, Boberg & Associates’
financial promise—it is a mutual commitment to work toward discovered Loral’s organizational
a predetermined set of goals with a pledge of specific improve- goals were not specific or measur-
ments ranging from 20 to 30 percent. If we don’t meet our goals able. Therefore, managers lacked a
clear understanding of their roles and
by the end of our set timeline, we will either keep working until responsibilities, and in some cases,
we do or refund fees based on the proposed return on lower-level managers and supervisors
investment.
38 percent has experience working with
“DeWolff, Boberg & Associates
improvement
companies that focusoverall
on manufacturing and engineering, so they
were able to work on the front line with our managers in order
to understand the challenges they faced. They helped our
employees learn to do things differently in the area of project and
personnel management.”
—John Celli, Chief Operating Officer
In the engineering group, for example, mented specific tools to assist Loral’s
DeWolff, Boberg & Associates helped managers on a day-to-day basis. For
Loral break down every production example, in daily huddle meetings,
activity into individual tasks, and then supervisors and their teams could
define the time needed for each one, review the day’s tasks and discuss any
so that the company could schedule safety, quality, or scheduling issues.
and estimate projects more accurately. From this meeting, supervisors also
After generating a standardized activ- developed a Daily Schedule Control
ity list, the next phase included devel- Sheet to obtain commitments from
oping specific, measurable, achievable, operators as to how many tasks or
were not aware of overall company realistic, and time-based goals; creat- units they would complete each day.
objectives. ing tactics to achieve them; and then Supervisors could then check in
aligning the organization accordingly. with their teams every two hours to
“Because of the technical nature of pinpoint areas of lost time and help
building satellites, Loral grows its own “The first step was to determine how operators solve problems throughout
human resources and promotes from much time every step of a given pro- the day.
within,” explained Breault. “Most of cess actually required. Then DeWolff,
the managers have been there many, Boberg & Associates educated the “The results with the Daily Sched-
many years and don’t have a lot of managers on how to collect, use, and ule Control were pretty immediate,”
new influences. Loral knew outside share performance data to measure explained Hector Kuncaitis, Section
help was needed to develop a pro- productivity. This information gave Manager of Spacecraft Test & Opera-
ductivity-focused management team managers a basis from which they tions. “After we implemented the
that could balance the technical issues could create weekly goals and produc- schedule control, it became a team
with costs.” tion plans,” explained Celli. “What effort. We established in the morning
DeWolff, Boberg & Associates asked what needed to be done, and I could
Once the analysis was complete, the managers to do was relatively then spend a few minutes every
DeWolff, Boberg & Associates began straightforward, but it caused a change two hours following up. I found out
developing and implementing strate- in cultural behavior. Asking all these I could check in with my team with-
gies to help Loral initiate the transfor- high-tech people to come in each out micromanaging.”
mation process. morning and do things in a different
way was difficult at first.” For many front-line managers, incor-
Leveraging Data to Enact Change porating these new tools created
The DeWolff, Boberg & Associates Once the plan was established, the additional work in the beginning.
engagement at Loral spanned 48 DeWolff, Boberg & Associates team However, as time went on, it became
weeks in the engineering group and began working with individual units to clear the tools were adding significant
34 weeks in manufacturing, which is help supervisors understand how their value—not only in opening the lines
longer than the firm’s average 26- roles and responsibilities fit within the of communication among teams but
week engagement. The 14 members larger company objectives of improv- also in establishing new performance
of the DeWolff, Boberg & Associates ing productivity and reducing costs. metrics to gauge progress.
team spent a significant amount of
time in the beginning of the project Streamlining the Production Process “I was really surprised by how
establishing productivity metrics, such Once a framework to measure DeWolff, Boberg & Associates took us
as developing parameters for work work content had been established, back to the basics and implemented a
content. DeWolff, Boberg & Associates imple- continuous cycle of planning, assign-
“I was really surprised by how DeWolff, Boberg & Associates took us “I was very impressed with DeWolff,
Boberg & Associates because the
back to the basics and implemented a continuous cycle of planning, individuals they brought in were very
assigning, and following up. That’s very basic stuff, but we were energetic, very well managed, and
worked very well with our managers,”
able to get down to the level we needed to see the real issues, and commented Celli. “The process was
I saw a lot of growth within my group. a little intrusive and painful, but to
DeWolff, Boberg & Associates’ credit
—Eric Meyer, Unit Supervisor of BUS Electronics Manufacturing they really stayed with us until the
results started coming. Now it’s our
managers’ turn to run the show, and
ing, and following up,” commented Creating a New Culture of Success we’ll keep the pressure on and pro-
Eric Meyer, Unit Supervisor of BUS At the outset of the project in March vide training to ensure this process
Electronics Manufacturing. “That’s 2007, DeWolff, Boberg & Associates endures—with continuous improve-
very basic stuff, but we were able to had projected they could help Loral ment.”
get down to the level we needed to achieve cost savings of $10 million by
see the real issues, and I saw a lot of June 2008. Loral actually has achieved While DeWolff, Boberg & Associates
growth within my group. The opera- a savings of nearly $15.5 million. established a solid framework for
tors are very good at what they do, but Loral, it has created a new culture
before this process, their communica- While DeWolff, Boberg & Associates that has empowered Loral managers
tion wasn’t the best. It was hard to no doubt helped make Loral’s pro- and front-line workers to help make
get them to speak out and provide us cesses more efficient, many managers necessary changes that will positively
with information. Now they are more and front-line workers also appreciated impact Loral in the short term—and
comfortable taking responsibility for the firm’s tactical approach. DeWolff, for many years to come.
what they are working on and sharing Boberg & Associates worked side by
that information with the team.” side with every level of the Loral team,
creating opportunities for front-line
While many managers and front-line managers and workers’ voices to be
workers were supportive of DeWolff, heard by upper management in a new
Boberg & Associates, there were pock- way.
ets of resistance within Loral, especial-
ly in the beginning. This began to shift “The DeWolff, Boberg & Associates
as the Loral team further understood team was here working with us hand
the objectives of the initiative and saw in hand, day to day, and could affect
positive outcomes from the strategies changes with upper management,”
being implemented. said Kuncaitis. “In the past, we could
only talk or complain about what
“I think many front-line workers were needed to change, but DeWolff, Boberg At the outset of the project,
apprehensive at first because when & Associates gave us an opportunity to
DeWolff, Boberg & Associates
you hear of consultants coming in, really make changes. We realized early
you worry about layoffs,” explained on that DeWolff, Boberg & Associates had projected they could help
Kuncaitis. “That wasn’t it at all. I wasn’t an adversary. They were our
Loral achieve cost savings of
think the apprehension went away allies.”
once it was communicated that this $10 million. Loral actually has
wasn’t about them as a person—it’s This improved synergy within indi-
achieved a savings of nearly
about looking at what’s the best way vidual teams and across units is also
to measure and evaluate a process.” helping Loral make steady progress $15.5 million.
toward the goal of doubling its annual
Another key concern for some Loral satellite production. Celli and the
team members was that quality would executive team understand it will take
suffer as a result of the additional time and ongoing dedication to sustain
tools being added to their daily opera- the momentum, which is why they DEWOLFF, BOBERG & ASSOCIATES, INC.
tions. However, over the course of the are developing an incentive program Resources to management for improving performance SM
project, DeWolff, Boberg & Associates tailored specifically toward reaching (800) 800-6030 (972) 808-9291 Fax
found that Loral’s increased productiv- the objectives DeWolff, Boberg & www.dewolffboberg.com
ity had absolutely no negative impact Associates assisted in developing. © 2008 DeWolff, Boberg & Associates
on quality.