Deere embarked on a reengineering initiative.

Although the terminology was new, Deere was no stranger to this kind of
change, having undergone a major overhaul in its manufac- turing operations a
Deere & Company, of Moline, Illinois, is a company
decade before.
whose history is closely linked to the triumphs and
struggles of the agricultural industry in the
midwestern United States over the past 150 years.
Cells came first. The idea was to group
similar pieces of a process together and
have one operator make an entire part.
Gesme- veteran of Deere believes that reengineering
has transformed Deere into a resilient company that will be
more able to withstand the cyclical downturns that have
realize that
troubled it in the past.
some reengineering projects are going to be Learn that: it’s best to start small, at the
more successful than others, and some might edges of your business.
not work at all for a variety of reasons.
Deere was structured
we decided to ask the various divisions
into eight divisions, all
to invite us in to do reengineering if they
managed very
So mapping the leadership process allowed us to look at the management as a were interested.
Guinn: In reengineering terms, the first step is to map separately.
process. It kept us focused on our responsibilities as a leadership group and
the process,
gave us a mechanism to communicate the organization’s most important
because you can’t improve anything if you can’t define it.
initiatives and launch them as improvement activities. They were performing
underwriting activities
Chap 12. ONE to assess the risk on
the new estimate-to- Gesme: The whole idea of change brings up the quotes for the
cash process wasn’t issue of fear. People resist because they’re COMPANY’S The first reengineering project to get off the dealerships.
going to be very hard fearful. Of late, we’ve been trying to do more ground was for John Deere Insurance, which
after all --> it required a work with what we call “change leadership.” It’s EXPERIENCE: DEERE wrotecomercial lines of insurance to dealerships—
Word spread about the
lot of planning. all designed to eliminate fear. John Deere equipment dealers, auto dealers, boat
dealers, recreational vehicle dealers. successful changes in
the insurance
In such cases, reengineering represents a clean break with the business, and other
company’s past. The slate is wiped clean and the organization com- people jumped on the
pletely reinvents how it operates. bandwagon.

Reengineering at Deere wasn’t intro-
duced as an alien concept to be imposed from
the techniques of reengineering and their
the outside. It was posed as a natural
accompanying behaviors were unfamiliar
outgrowth of the company’s long-standing
territory at Deere.
commitment to improvement and to its
highly regarded quality program.
Gesme: The Dubuque project really created some stir at the topmost levels
Deere decided to of Deere. As part of the snowball effect, the agriculture division came back We’re finding that it’s the length of time in
reengineer, it was still and asked us to take a look at the tillage products of their business. These a particular job, not the age of the person
successful and are the tools that or even total years of service, this seems to
profitable. you pull behind the tractor to turn the dirt and prepare the seed bed for create the most resistance.
planting.

For many companies,

Gary Gesme and some perhaps most, The thing about
Gesme: we did not do a good job of tracking our
Gary succinctly reminds attempted to reengineer the core process of of his colleagues were reengineering is high reengineering is that it
improvements. We never had a good control group on the
us, they “build order fulfillment before farsighted and drama. changes all aspects of
front side and back side of a change.
tractors.” the organization was ready. understood the power Organizations how you do business.
of reengineering. undertake it for an
assortment of reasons.

They listened to people to make sure they understood

and could accurately address people’s concerns and
feelings.

They employed board games to diminish anxiety and help

people understand the need for change.

they managed a relentless commu-

nication program.