Case Study of Babcook and Wilcox
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1. Morris Neilson started his career at Babcook & Wilcox (B&W)
2. George G. Zipf started his career at B&W
3. 2 B&W set up an extensive research facility for nuclear
4. Neilson became president and chief officer of B&W
5. 3 The planning for Mt. Vernon began
6. Mt. Vernon started operating makeshifts for almost two years
7. 4 The linear accelerator for X-ray welds arrived 11 months late
8. 5 The tape-controlled machine center arrived 12 months late
9. 6 During the installation of the Mount Vernon plant, it was closed for 40 days
10. 7 14 of GE and Westinghouse´s vessels were taking out of B&W´s shops
11. 8 Only one third of the employees who started the manufacturing training stayed at B&W after completion
12. Zipf replaced Neilson as Chief Executive Officer
13. 9 Neilson retired and sold three quarts of his shares in B&W
14. 10 B&W’s stockholders got their first official hint about the troubles B&W was facing
15. 11 All areas were profitable except the nuclear energy sector
16. 12 B&W officially informed their customers about the bad situation at Mt. Vernon, operating management
[Table 1. Timetable of the major events described in the case study “The great Nuclear Fizzle at Old Babcook & Wilcox”, Fortune Magazine, November 1969]
[Short introduction] The main problems that faced Babcook & Wilcox (B&W) were; delivery delays, lawsuits and strikes. These issues made the already bad corporate culture even worse. Further on, they also managed to created new competitors in a marked they previously have dominated. [End of introduction]
The main-error made by the management of B&W was the failing of identifying the “Key Manufacturing Task” (referred as KMT in the text). The definition of the KMT is “the operation that is most important in the market” e.g. quality, quantity, delivery reliability or low costs. The KMT is the most important process and thus what the firm should focus
OBS!!!
För att få plus!!!!!!!!!
1. Morris Neilson started his career at Babcook & Wilcox (B&W)
2. George G. Zipf started his career at B&W
3. 2 B&W set up an extensive research facility for nuclear
4. Neilson became president and chief officer of B&W
5. 3 The planning for Mt. Vernon began
6. Mt. Vernon started operating makeshifts for almost two years
7. 4 The linear accelerator for X-ray welds arrived 11 months late
8. 5 The tape-controlled machine center arrived 12 months late
9. 6 During the installation of the Mount Vernon plant, it was closed for 40 days
10. 7 14 of GE and Westinghouse´s vessels were taking out of B&W´s shops
11. 8 Only one third of the employees who started the manufacturing training stayed at B&W after completion
12. Zipf replaced Neilson as Chief Executive Officer
13. 9 Neilson retired and sold three quarts of his shares in B&W
14. 10 B&W’s stockholders got their first official hint about the troubles B&W was facing
15. 11 All areas were profitable except the nuclear energy sector
16. 12 B&W officially informed their customers about the bad situation at Mt. Vernon, operating management
[Table 1. Timetable of the major events described in the case study “The great Nuclear Fizzle at Old Babcook & Wilcox”, Fortune Magazine, November 1969]
[Short introduction] The main problems that faced Babcook & Wilcox (B&W) were; delivery delays, lawsuits and strikes. These issues made the already bad corporate culture even worse. Further on, they also managed to created new competitors in a marked they previously have dominated. [End of introduction]
The main-error made by the management of B&W was the failing of identifying the “Key Manufacturing Task” (referred as KMT in the text). The definition of the KMT is “the operation that is most important in the market” e.g. quality, quantity, delivery reliability or low costs. The KMT is the most important process and thus what the firm should focus
References: 1. Powerpoint Presentation with Anders Feldmann, “Supply chain processes and capacity” 2. Harvard Business Review, “Beyond World-Class: The New Manufacturing Strategy” by Robert H. Hayes and Gary P. Pisano, January 1994 3. “The Key Manufacturing Task – How to identify the most important strategic tasks”, by Wickham Skinner, updated in November 2014, http://www.strategosinc.com/key_manufacturing_task.htm