Platform teams

Robert Lutz, at the time of writing a General Motors Vice Chairman, describes the motivation of platform teams at his prior employer, Chrysler Corporation before a merger made it DaimlerChrysler. The formation of these teams is often cited as the centerpiece of a Chrysler, now Chrysler Group, turnaround from a weak to a strong competitive position. 

Platform teams rose because competitors were winning the race to market with new and fresh designs. The old Chrysler had a once-size-fits-all process. How innovative could one department be in trying to serve a diverse range of brand names, each with its own goals and identity ... 

Section 16.3.2 described how Chrysler Group deployed platform teams in its U.S.-based business. According to then-president Robert Lutz, Chrysler was on the ropes in the late 1980s. Platform teams were a response to high cost, long lead-times for product development, and outmoded products. The platform teams encouraged new lines of communication within the organization. 

No less impressive was the parallel development of the Extended Enterprise to complement the platform teams. Extended Enterprise is a trademarked term applied by Chrysler to describe its partnership with suppliers. The initiative provides lessons for partnerships between trading partners. As of 2003, the company defined its Extended Enterprise System as a Chrysler coordinated, goal-driven process that unifies and extends the business relationships of suppliers and supplier tiers in order to reduce cycle time, minimize systems cost, and achieve perfect quality. ... 

At the upper left are the platform teams. At Chrysler, there were six of these. For example, a platform such as minivan will be responsible for products with familiar brand names like the Pacifica, PT Cmiser, Neon, Stratus, Town Country, Jeep Cherokee, and Dodge Caravan. Each platform contains representatives from traditional functions such as manufacturing, engineering, and procurement. 

The human factors audit was part of a hazard analysis which was used to recommend the degree of automation required in blowdown situations. The results of the human factors audit were mainly in terms of major errors which could affect blowdown success likelihood, and causal factors such as procedures, training, control room design, team communications, and aspects of hardware equipment. The major emphasis of the study was on improving the human interaction with the blowdown system, whether manual or automatic. Two specific platform scenarios were investigated. One was a significant gas release in the molecular sieve module (MSM) on a relatively new platform, and the other a release in the separator module (SM) on an older generation platform. 

The DS team uncovered four additional sets of documentation systems when they conducted their detailed search of programs and elements. Each documentation system had its own set of standards for recording information, distribution, review and approval and for archiving. Furthermore, the incompatibilities of the various electronic systems were exacerbated by the lack of a corporate hierarchy on preferred computer platforms. 

Robert (Bob) Matson, Ph.D., is a senior staff scientist in the Advanced Technology Center at Beckman Coulter, Inc., Fullerton, California. He has been involved in the development of both nucleic acid and protein array-based technology for the past 13 years. His initial introduction to array technology began in collaboration with Sir Edwin Southern in developing an in situ oligonucleotide array synthesis platform for the corporation. Later work by Dr. Matson and his research team produced some of the first plastic microplate-based microarrays. Beckman Coulter recently launched the pi te based upon the microplate "array of arrays" concept. 

In the next few years a number of important atmospheric remote sensing missions are planned by NASDA, NASA and ESA. NASDA has constructed a second ADEOS satellite which will have POLDER and ILAS-II (Improved Limb Atmospheric Sounder) on board. The NASA-TERRA platform was launched at the end of 1999 and has the MOPITT instrument (Measurement of Pollution in the Troposphere), which aims to measure vertical profiles of carbon monoxide and methane in the troposphere. MOPITT is a Canadian instrument supported by an international science team. 

The playground had a circular play area full of sand. There was a log-platform structure, with chains hanging from it, in the circular area and a slide on one side. The agent team climbed on the structure, stood on the platform, slid down the slide, and took off their shoes in the sand. There were also swings next to the play area and a jungle gym next to the sidewalk. 

Thus, an R D program can be readily accelerated by tapping into your technology platform and internal network to select focused team members. Commonly, there is little or no physical movement although a program manager will have authority and accountability for the entire team. With this foundation, a well-designed team can achieve a rapid start and accelerate development. 

The investigating team recommended both hardware and procedural changes. They recommended that the vent stacks on each tank be increased from 6 inches (15 cm) in diameter to 10 inches (25 cm). That is about a 300-percent increase in cross-sectional venting area they knew it was not enough for the previous scenario, but it was oversized for the newly created procedures. A revision was made to the pH monitoring system. Agitator start buttons were relocated from the top platform to ground level. 

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