I am taking the role of Niel Goodrich (VP of Manufacturing) - I am hiring you as a consultant, wanting your advice on what to do about the Process Engineering Proposal (PEP). You have now read about the PEP plan to increase capacity by 50%. You know that Long is in strong disagreement. As an analyst what is your belief about the PEP - is it the right way to go? Will it increase or decrease performance? Will it affect motivation and therefore performance? Help each other out here.

The objectives of the PEP are to propose a plan for initiate the assembly process associate with the new line of LDTC radiation tubes, and reform the current assembly processes in the NTAD. The PEP has definitely positive influence on the Assembly process, which will expand capacity by 50% in the nuclear tube operations. However, some stages of the PEP underestimated the NTAR workers, and the Long's effort. As a result, it will decrease the existing Assembly worker's performance. One of the important factors of the proposal is to create process specifications for the nuclear tube operations, which Long strong disagree. Long prefers to use the production standards just as a guide for the employees. However, the PEP will rewrite and reform the process specifications on existing operations. After that, the PEP needs to enforce new standards into the work process. In addition, the proposal requires that Singer approve monitoring, evaluating, and documenting any deviations or changes. It will discourage the problem solving in the workplace. Also, it might hinder the employees' enthusiasm to create solution for the issues.
Secondly, the plan will change the arrangements of the tube assembly operation. In addition to pilot process, the proposal is going to hire four new assembly operators with higher pay. The four new operators are unfamiliar with the existing workers, and training the assembly workers. It maybe causes the older workers dissatisfied. Meanwhile, the plan has several major changes in the facilities of the NTAR. The Assembly Room will be divided into three separate rooms: clean room, metal work room, and moderate control room. I think that the division will completely disrupt the current process of the NTAR. The existing workers in the Assembly Room might need to retrain and reallocate. Moreover, the proposal requires a rigid controlling and monitoring of the process. It means the bottle-line workers will lose all authorization. It will decrease the workers' motivation.
The development of operator specialization and fixed-station assignments is a great idea to improve the performance. The specific types of operations will improve the workers' skills.
In summary, the PEP provides the great opportunities in order to improve yields and reliability in the Nuclear Tube Room. However, the start up of assembly process pays less attention to the importance of the empowerment. This PEP sets up a batch of process specifications to guide people how to operate in right ways. It maybe increases the productivity in short time. However, it will decrease the morale of the assembly worker. Daniel and Singer should consider what the Long have been done for the NTAR, and change some of the PEP.