Case Study Report: The Paveway Program Transformation

Abstract

On a Monday in June of 1999 the Paveway production line restarted in a hastily erected tent at Raytheon's Tucson, Arizona facility. It did not look or perform like the Paveway program that had won Texas Instruments the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award just seven years earlier. The move has been quick - four days - and executed on a shoestring budget. Photographs and sketches were used to piece the production line together like a giant jigsaw puzzle. Only 25% of the Texas Instruments personnel made the move to Arizona, so Paveway was in the hands of a new team and a new culture. Over the next four years the program would see weak morale and performance, a huge surge in demand following 9/11, and intense pressure from a competitor. Challenges like these have ended programs and entire companies, yet Paveway met these challenges and emerged as a best-in-class program and winner of the 2004 Shingo Prize. How did this transformation take place? What kind of capabilities does an organization need to survive and flourish under such challenges? This case seeks to tell the story of the Paveway program from 1999 to the present. Specifically, the purpose is to create better understanding and guidance for managers, facilitators, and participants at all organizational levels for the types of changes and change processes that enable transformation.