Traditional manufacturing processes involve large inventories, pre-assembly of parts that are stockpiled until needed and manufacturing schedules that fit the needs of the producer, not necessarily the customer. The switch to DFT was a major culture change at Trane, Gerdes says, and included all employees, not just those on the production line. DFT was then implemented gradually on all product lines. Whereas in a traditional manufacturing process a product moves through the shop in batches to various focused process areas, DFT establishes feeder lines that that perform multiple tasks before the product moves to the final assembly line. Each operator checks the previous work done on the product, performs his task, then verifies the job.
Workers access data via computers throughout the plant to obtain on-line process information.
There was some skepticism when DFT was introduced at Trane, but Gerdes says employees have since responded well to the changes. With DFT, workers learn multiple tasks and are much more responsible for the overall quality of the product, he says. Also, individual measures of performance have largely been replaced by team measures. To make DFT work, labor had to buy into the concept. In 1992 Trane's management team was reorganized and labor and management worked to gain acceptance of all DFT principles.