ABSTRACT

Organizational productivity initiatives have become a significant part of the engineering design system utilized by the radio frequency (RF)/microwave industry. These abundant initiatives have modified and molded the microwave engineer’s methodologies and work habits in the past 15-20 years. The popularity of these initiatives is so pervasive among companies and engineering organizations that an entire industry of consultant trainers has emerged to help launch and implement successful programs to improve organizational efficiency and performance. Popular initiatives include

• Design for Manufacturability • Design to Cost • Total Customer Satisfaction • Six Sigma • Just-In-Time Delivery • Total Cycle Time Reduction • Total Quality Management • Lean Electronics • Best Place to Work • Supply Chain Operation Reference

All of the aforementioned initiatives are designed to improve productivity-and therefore profit. Some initiatives focus primarily on the use of new tools and metrics (such as Six Sigma) to improve

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manufacturing productivity. Just-In-Time initiatives focus on inventory reduction and procurement efficiency. Initiatives like Lean Electronics represent a collection of productivity techniques coupled by an underlying theme of efficiency. Finally, some initiatives focus primarily on direct alteration of the attitudes and perceptions of the workforce toward their customers and coworkers (such as Total Customer Satisfaction and Best Place to Work). To some extent, all major productivity initiatives are culture-changing exercises.