Self-Directed Work Teams: Tunnell and Rhône-Poulenc Join Forces

After months of training and planning, Rhône-Poulenc Surfactants and Specialties, a division of Rhône-Poulenc Inc., recently cut the ribbon on the first self-directed work team established in a new or "green field" company facility. A group of 17 men and women bravely walked through the

"This team does everything that has to be done to make the product and get it to the customer."

plant doors to set a new standard of employee empowerment for the company. Supported by four managers who facilitate the team process, not direct it, the team is operating the division's Marcus Hook, PA plant, one of two U.S. facilities that, as a result of consolidation, is now doing the job that had been done by five.

Many will be watching the new plant with interest, among them, Tunnell Consulting. We formulated the plan to implement the self-directed work team, and then trained the team in the tools and techniques needed to meet the challenges and opportunities ahead.

Plant Manager Joe Vogt explains that self-directed work teams are the accepted teaming concept of the future -- essentially the next stage in the evolution of employee empowerment. According to Vogt, "Self-directed work teams answer some of the questions about what the future of a manufacturing site will look like." Committed to the concept, Vogt worked closely with Tunnell Principal Larry Meyers in transforming 17 individuals into a 17-member team designed to handle every aspect of plant operations, working in shifts to maintain a 24-hour, 7-day schedule. Says Meyers, "This team does anything and everything that has to be done to make the product and get it to the customer." That includes staffing, scheduling, managing budgets, purchasing supplies, converting raw material into ingredients for soaps and cosmetics, developing safety procedures and far more -- with Plant Manager Vogt and three others overseeing operations in a nontraditional style that allows for employee autonomy.

Says Vogt, "The overriding goal is to become more customer focused. To do that, we must get decision making into the hands of the people doing the work, treat them with respect, and make sure there's enough information flow so proper decisions can be made by the team."

In other words -- the team, as its name implies, directs itself.

Vogt says Rhône-Poulenc interviewed a number of firms to train the new team, but chose Tunnell Consulting because of its strong expertise in teaching technical and organizational change to employees and managers.

Did Tunnell Consulting help mold the team into shape? "Absolutely," says Vogt. "We're succeeding at getting to the point where we can be successful."

With the opening of the new plant, the team has put what it learned into practice -- taking its first big step toward becoming a manufacturing plant of the future.

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