The Burred Panels


The problems to be solved are presented in the form of dialogues between various managers in a plant which manufactures quarter panels - the body parts that cover the front quarters of the car, including the wheels.  The quarter panel is the successor to the fender, and is the part most often damaged in collisions in traffic accidents.  This plant has 3,000 employees and makes not only quarter panels but also many other smaller parts and components for two of the models sold by one of the big three auto companies.
The panels are made of four separate production lines, each line headed by a huge hydraulic press that stamps the panels out of sheet-steel blanks.  When the flat steel arrives at the plant from various suppliers by rail, it is unloaded and carried to a machine which cuts identical-size blanks for all four hydraulic presses.  Blanks go to the presses by forklift trucks in pallet stacks of 40 each, and the schedule is so arranged that there is always a supply on hand when the presses are started up on the morning shift at 8:00 AM.

The Principals

Since this problem, like any other management problem, involves different types of people, the following brief descriptions of the characters, whose names have been disguised, may be useful:

Oscar Burger, Plant Manager - a tough manager in his late fifties; Known for his willingness to listen to others; considered antiunion by the employees.

Robert Polk, Production Chief - a hard-nosed driver, very able technically, but quick-tongued and inclined to favor certain subordinates;  also considered antiunion by the employees.

Ben Peters, Quality Control Manager - reserved, quiets, and cautions when dealing with others; extremely confident in his figures.

Ralph Coggin, Industrial Relations Manager - a fairly typical personnel manager;  sympathetic to employees;  relies on human n relation techniques

Andy Patella, Shop Steward - antagonistic to management and eager to prove his power; has developed rapport with industrial Relations Manager Coggin.

George Adams, Supervisor on line #1 - steady, solid, and well respected by his men.

James Farrell, Supervisor on Line #2 - irascible, ambitious, and somewhat puritanical; very antiunion.

Henry Dawson, Supervisor on Line #3 - patient, warmhearted, and genuinely liked by his men.

Otto Henschel, Supervisor on Line #4 - aloof, cool, and a bit ponderous; neither liked nor disliked by his men.
 

Morning Emergency

Informal Get-Together

Afternoon Meeting

Burger's Dilemma

The meeting breaks up and the managers go back to their respective jobs.  Plant manager Burger spends some time by himself trying to resolve the dilemma.  He sees two choices facing him:  (1)  back up Farrell and risk a strike that might be stopped by injunction, or (2)  avoid a strike by undercutting Farrell, reinstating Valenti, and asking the men to cooperate in eliminating excess rejects.  He does not like either of the alternatives, and hopes he can think of some better way to get out of this jam.  At least, he tells himself, he has a night to sleep on it.