The following Cases are Typical of WIN Advisory Group Consulting Work

Case 1:  Auto Parts Start Up Company

To assist an auto parts start-up, we first conducted an opinion survey to identify problems that occurred during the start up period. We asked for opinions in the following areas:

• Team work
• Satisfaction levels on salary, hourly wages and fringe benefits
• Americans' opinions of Japanese management
• HR audit
• Drug use in the plant
• Favoritism
• Work ethics
• Training needs

After identifying problem areas and prioritizing solutions, WIN developed a plan that was approved and implemented by management and included

1. HR Audit.
2. Development of a HR handbook that clarified a drug policy.
3. Strategy to remove some supervisors from work due to drug policy violations.
4. Hiring an HR manager.
5. Training the Japanese plant manager in the areas of worker motivation, leadership, and financial operations.
6. Establishing sales and revenue goals.
7. Establishing policy on quality standards and implementing related training.
8. Restructuring the organization.
9. Re-assigning managers more appropriately.
10. Developing a strategy to terminate under-achieving employees.
11. 5-S, 3-S projects on selected production equipment and horizontal propagation under quality improvement leader.

Case 2:  Growing Pains

A manufacturing company grew successfully from a few people to 200 employees. A decision to expand sales volume by increasing product line and customer base resulted in a failure to reach profit goals. New products didn't perform as well as planned. There was a decrease in product quality, an increase of rejects and higher costs involved in repair and changing suppliers. The company had to adopt a strategy of manufacturing fewer, but more profitable bread and butter products, and depend on a smaller, but more reliable client base. They followed a clear strategy of LEAN engineering to change their production paradigm.

WIN conducted a survey, developed a strategy and implemented the plan with several goals:

1. Identify level of interest in unionization and develop a prevention strategy.
2. Replace production and engineering leadership.
3. Spread the philosophy of LEAN throughout the company.
4. Train new Japanese managers to energize, motivate and develop the trust of Americans in operation, production and engineering functions and to enhance communication with American supervisors and hourly workers.

Case 3:  Localization Strategy

WIN was hired to develop a localization strategy and to identify and confirm the need to hire American managers and vice president level personnel for the first time in a company’s 20-year presence in the US.

WIN used written surveys, personal interviews and focus group sessions to collect input from 200 employees at four operating centers. WIN identified high levels of frustration on the part of American employees. Contributing to the frustration was the perceived under-utilization of American talents and the absence of Americans in key positions. This resulted in high employee turnover with related disruption in production and quality. WIN proposed hiring an American at the vice president level. In addition to easing frustrations on the part of American workers, this required establishing salaries and fringe benefits and defining incentives and performance-based compensation policies.

Case 4:  Sexual Harassment

Without warning, a female worker sued a company for sexual harassment. She claimed harassment activities on the part of American and Japanese managers. The top executives had no knowledge of these activities.

The company handbook contained a policy regarding sexual harassment, but there were no periodic checks to determine if the policy was followed. This company had no training in place to educate its employees on the consequences of sexual harassment. WIN was hired to define the extent of the need for such training. Subsequently, they conducted a series of training sessions related to the sexual harassment policy. In this case, based on the sensitivity of the issue and cultural differences, Americans were trained by WIN's American team members and Japanese by WIN’s Japanese consultants.

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