...JIELIANG PHONE HOME CASE STUDY PROBLEM STATEMENT Jieliang (DL) is a line worker at Precision Electro-Tech’s Dongguan, China manufacturing plant. During a plant walk through, Marty Cole (OEM – Global Team) witnessed Jieliang being publicly disciplined in front of her fellow line workers for not following Total Quality Control (TQC) procedures and using her own method. ANALYSIS Precision Electro-Tech is a large contract manufacturer (CM) that produces products (i.e., cell phones) for another company or OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer). “In the case of complex assembly tasks, if those tasks can be broken down into simple unit manufacturing steps that can be completely specified, they can be sent to low-cost countries like China where unskilled labor can be trained to follow those steps in detail. This business concept is known as “labor arbitrage” and is the foundation of the global economy and outsourcing (Shih, Bernstein, Bilimoria, 2009).” The above business model of CMs is a tried and true paradigm and is consistent with the lean principles of manufacturing. While this model is widely used, particularly in outsourcing operations; the key is that each step must be clearly defined, delineated, and rigidly followed in order to maximize productivity. The advantage of the CM approach is that it allows OEMs to specify the exact steps in the manufacturing process; ostensibly, to ensure exact specifications and a high level of quality control and efficiency. The nature...
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...processes being handled and taken over by automated machines squeezing out human body workers. A company like Precision that’s constantly looking for ways to cut costs, and wastes will have no problem replacing human body workers with robot machines to get the job done if it will cut costs, provide more working space, and improve quality and productivity. “Precision occupies a multi-building campus in Dongguan. In addition to warehousing and PCB factories, there are over 10,000 workers located in two multi-story buildings assembling mobile phone handset. / Workers predominantly live in the dormitory buildings on the campus site. The connected buildings are for indirect labor, and the rest are for direct labor. There is a separate canteen building where workers may purchase meals. There is an internet café, a medical clinic and small convenience store. Dormitory housing is very inexpensive by local standards.” (Jieliang Phone Home) These are some of the things that Precision can see as opportunity to cut back on costs and increase capacity. Instead of occupying the multi-building with 10,000 workers at a very low cost, Precision can turn the building into more manufacturing space with automated machines...
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