Between April 17 and 19, 2024, the workers of the
Volkswagen assembly plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, voted overwhelmingly in
favor of establishing a union. This
would be the first unionized factory in the automobile industry in the southern
part of the United States. The union,
UAW, plans to invest more organizing resources to make all the assembly plants
in the region unionized. Meanwhile, Mercedes Benz has installed its MO360 Data
Platform in its brand-new Factory 56 in
Sindelfingen, Germany. It now plans to
implement that platform in its assembly plant in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama.
Fearing for their job security, the workers in Alabama elected worker
representatives to communicate to plant management that before the MO360
platform is implemented, the factory should first implement the Lean Production
System that has been used by Porsche since the 1990s. In exchange, the workers
pledge to not form a union for the next 15 years. Otherwise, they will begin negotiations with
the UAW to unionize the assembly plant immediately, aiming to be the second
unionized factory in the South.
You
have just been hired as a special assistant to the Plant Manager of
the assembly plant. Your first
assignments are:
1. Provide
numerical evidences as to the superiority of Lean Production over the Mass
Production System
2. Explain
the Lean Production System
Put together a 3-year
plan to successfully implement the shift to Lean Production in the plant in
Alabama, including a quarterly GANTT chart
USE INFORMATION GIVEN TO YOU!!!!!!!
