Abstract

The ACE (Achieving Competitive Excellence) program at Pratt & Whitney (P&W) has been adapted from improving shop floor processes to enhancing office processes. Step 1 in ACE was to identify best practices categories. The six categories chosen for the ACE office program included: policy deployment; the 5S (sort, straighten, shine, schedule, sustain) and the visual workplace; and root cause analysis. Step 2 was to list actions in each category and to group them by criteria level. For example, in the policy deployment category, awareness training and extension of objectives were two actions that fell respectively into the prerequisite and gold criteria levels. The other criteria levels were bronze and silver. Step 3 in ACE was to provide tools, training, resources, and incentives for office staff. Typical tools were lists of recommended practices in areas like organization of files and selection of metrics. More complex tools, like the techniques of root cause analysis, became part of the ACE training program. Other resources included support for cultural change and for capital expenditures. And the major incentive for the ACE program was the top-down encouragement that came from senior management. Self-auditing within each office unit was the capstone ACE activity. Early results from the ACE office program show at least short-term success.