Aerotech Case
The underlying problems at AeroTech are: the laser systems engineering group is not producing products within its own projections of cycle time and budget, the team has the lowest productivity as compared to other similar teams in the division. Possible interpretations of these problems are that either Todd is making inaccurate unrealistic projections or the team is not able to work cohesively to attain the set goals within set time and budget. In the second problem the possible interpretation for the problem is that Todd’s team come up with fewer product developments in a given time period or that the number of product delays experienced in the team are higher than in other teams, or that the team is not working together cohesively to meet the team objectives within the set constraints.
From the first problem where the laser systems engineering group is not producing products within its own projections of cycle time and budget, the data needed to analyze whether this underlying problem is occurring are gathering data on the groups quarterly plans on budget and delivery times projections initially drawn by Todd and data on the actual budget and delivery time used by the group over the past four quarters, and gather information from the team members on how they work within the team, communicate, assign tasks, reach decisions and resolve conflicts within the team.
From the second problem where the team has the lowest productivity as compared to other similar teams in the division, the data needed to analyze whether this underlying problem is occurring are gathering data on the number of product developments that each of the groups in the company has come up with over the past four quarters, gathering data on the number of product delays per group in the company over the past four quarters and gathering information per group on how they work within their team, assign tasks, communicate, reach decisions and resolve conflicts. Methods of data gathering