2006 Fall Issue - UAW-Chrysler.com

Training
UP
WOM PHASE 1 HELPS TEAMS GET SMART
BY OTESA MIDDLETON MILES
LEFT: GETTY IMAGES; RIGHT: JON MURESAN
As the saying goes, there’s no “I” in “team.” And coming
together as a team at the UAW-DaimlerChrysler
Technology Training Center is what the 40-hour Phase 1
Workplace Organization Model (WOM) training is all about.
Darnell Bates, a UAW Local 51 member who works at Mack
Avenue Engine II, completed Phase 1 training in the fall of 2005
as part of the plant’s transition to the Smart Manufacturing team
structure. “It helps all the members get an understanding of what
it is to be an effective team,” says Bates, who started at
DaimlerChrysler in 1995 as a part-timer and is now a team leader.
By the end of June, approximately 14,000 workers had
completed the training. The UAW-DaimlerChrysler National
Training Center developed the curriculum and coordinated Phase
1 and Phase 2 training. Although most workers are trained at their
locations, some participate at the NTC, the Technology Training
Center or an NTC Regional Family Training Center.
John Stallings, UAW coordinator for the training, says the
sessions empower workers. “When you get everybody supporting
each other, it makes a big difference,” he says. “When people
know they play a part in the decision making, it makes them feel
good about what they’re doing.”
ACTIVE LEARNING
The training itself is highly interactive, according to LaMar Harris,
senior process specialist for Union Relations and management
coordinator for WOM training. On Smart teams, the members
make the decisions, which helps the production process move
efficiently. “The goal,” Harris says, “is to produce a quality
product cost-effectively.”
Once a plant begins WOM training, all its workers will
complete Phase 1, which includes two days of training on
“soft” skills, such as communication and conflict resolution.
The first phase also includes two days of technical skills training
and visual management techniques, using sight cues to help coworkers
immediately recognize all standards, including quality
standards, production standards and process standards. With
sight cues, workers should be able to look at any process on the
floor and know, based on the way the area looks, if something
isn’t right — for example, if a fluid level is incorrect.
The Phase 1
WOM is a hot
topic at the UAW-
DaimlerChrysler
Technology
Training Center.
The last day of training simulates a production operation. Using
the new skills they learned in the previous four days of training,
workers transform a problematic operation into a smooth one.
“They use Smart tools and people skills to brainstorm and get
input from everyone,” says Harris. “They improve the process.”
ROLE REVERSALS
Stallings, who has been at Chrysler almost 34 years, says he is
excited about the Smart team training because it simplifies
troubleshooting. One big reason it’s easier for Smart teams, he
says, is that team members learn each other’s jobs.
Teams have one leader and an average of four to six members
who frequently rotate duties to understand every role. Job rotation
improves quality because each member knows what should be
happening at each step of the process.
After completing the training, says Mack II’s Bates, workers
are ready to go back to their plants and put what they’ve learned
into practice. “That will help the company survive in the
automotive world,” he says. ■
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