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Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate and measure the effectiveness of adding continuous quality improvement teams to the assembly plant floor. The study involved five specific teams that were formed at the Chrysler Sterling Heights Assembly Plant during the start of the 1996 model year. The researcher collected data during the 1995 model year, prior to team introduction at the assembly plant, and comparable data during the 1996 model year, after teams were added, to determine quality improvement factors. Specifically, this study sought to determine: (a) would problem-solving teams, when added to the assembly plant floor, have an impact on quality; and (b) would the variables identified in this research (skill levels, convictions, release time, problem-solving time, responsibility and accountability, trust and commitment, and use of their skills) point to how team variables correlate and have an impact on quality in the assembly plant.
Five specific teams were studied to determine if any or all had a positive impact on product quality: the Buzz, Squeak and Rattle Team (BSR), the Electrical Team (ET), the in-System Damage Team (ISD), the Body Reprocessing and Alignment Team (BRATS), and the Dry Car Team (DCT). A total of 48 team members and 25 members of management were surveyed to determine thoughts and perceptions with regard to the seven variables identified. Chrysler Corporation warranty results, customer satisfaction data, and customer survey data (quality tracking system) were used to measure the actual changes in product quality prior to and after adding problem-solving teams. The data needed to test the hypotheses were obtained from the Chrysler information system as well as through employee surveys. The validity and reliability of the instruments used to collect warranty information, customer satisfaction audit data, and quality tracking system data were established by trends developed at Chrysler Corporation and throughout the auto industry for the past eight years. This data was summarized and entered into a file for analysis using the statistical package for Lotus, Release 5. The analysis included crosstabulations to provide a description of the sample and inferential statistical analysis, and t-tests for independent samples which required obtaining variances and standard deviations of each related independent variable. All decisions on the statistical significance of the findings were made using an alpha level of.05.
From the data analysis, it was found that there were significant improvements in product quality as the result of adding problem-solving teams to the assembly plant floor. The control group (five teams) areas improved an average of 40.8%, non-team areas had an average improvement factor of 9.5%. These findings suggest that small problem-solving teams not only were a possible solution to quality problems, but also that the teams and their members were considered an unqualified success.
