Unlike many idled plants, however, Blacksburg got a second chance when it reopened in 1988. Larry Bankowski, a 40-year union veteran and president of the American Flint Glass Workers Union representing Corning workers, recalls that when Corning and the AFGW reopened the plant, nothing of the old plant was resurrected. The road to change started when Corning management presented the union with a general outline of the new work process. Implementing that process, however, was left to a steering committee made up of union and management representatives and to work teams. Teamwork is at the heart of Corning Blacksburg's new work system.
Teams are responsible for the quality of all the plant's work.
They take the lead in ensuring quality-there is no longer an inspection department. Teams also are responsible for product quotas, determining what line to run and the number of pieces to make. According to Bankowski, all the details of the production process have become the teams' responsibility. Today's plant has a team room where employees discuss how work will be performed, when, and by whom. Along with new responsibilities has come much greater union access to information, information needed to make the right decisions.