白领商务英语－经典案例7：Lexmark International

Organization, Teamwork, and Communication

Facing Business Challenges At Lexmark International

From IBM to Independence

How do you build a new, independent organization after years of control by a gigantic, global parent? That was the challenge facing top executives at Lexmark International. The original factory in Lexington, Kentucky, was a divi­sion of IBM, manufacturing electric typewriters renowned 1 for their durability 2 and useful features. In later years, af­ter IBM introduced the personal computer, the division also made keyboards and printers. Then IBM decided 3 to get out of the typewriter and printer business. An invest­ment firm bought the division in 1991, along with the right to use the IBM name on its products until 1996.

The new company was called Lexmark, a combina­tion of lex (derived from lexicon 4, a dictionary or a par­ticular vocabulary) and mark (from the idea of making a mark on paper, like a printer). A 32-year veteran of IBM, Marvin L. Mann was appointed CEO. In turn, he recruited other IBM executives to head production, research and development, human resources, and sales and marketing 5. Together, they were responsible for planning the transi­tion from operating as one of many IBM divisions to op­erating as an independent company making $1.8 billion in sales to customers all over the world.

Lexmark started life with more than 5,000 employ­ees but soon slimmed down to 4,100 by offering payouts to people who agreed to leave the company voluntarily. The company inherited a well-trained and motivated work force from parent IBM, and it shared IBM's com­mitment to high quality and strict ethical 6 standards. However, Mann wanted some things at Lexmark to be dif­ferent from the way they were under IBM. He was con­cerned that the new company would have a hard time putting creative ideas in motion if employees on the shop floor had to go through layers of management to talk with decision makers 7 at the top. He also wanted to speed up decision making by avoiding the delays IBM experienced when managers from different departments challenged each other's proposals. Finally, he wanted Lexmark em­ployees to risk trying new things without fearing that they would be punished for failures.

Mann and his management team knew well that these changes wouldn't be easy¾altering the way em­ployees work together and even modifying the way ideas flow upward and downward. If the new company was to thrive on its own, managers and employees alike would have to forget the IBM way and build an entirely 8 new or­ganization. How could Mann set up a structure that would unleash 9 his employees' creativity and entrepre­neurial spirit? In what way could he arrange work tasks to manufacture printers more efficiently 10? How could he streamline 11 Lexmark to allow the company to respond quickly to changes in customer needs and shifts in com­petitive pressures?

Meeting Business Challenges at Lexmark International

Marvin Mann knew that Lexmark's move from IBM to inde­pendence would require an entirely new organization structure. Under the IBM system, eight layers of management had sepa­rated assembly-line workers from top managers, and employees had to approach manager after manager to get the necessary ap­provals for changes or new projects. In addition, coming up with new products took 2 or 3 years from the time an idea was proposed (say, for a new printer) until the first printer rolled off the assembly line. Meanwhile, aggressive competitors like Hewlett-Packard, Apple, Canon, and Epson were moving quickly to bring out new printers packed with clever features that customers desired.

Mann started by reorganizing Lexmark according to product, creating four groups that each focused on a set of re­lated products. Next, Mann cut the number of management layers from eight to four. This action helped speed up com­munication and decision making throughout the company. Mann also abandoned the IBM method of studying and de­bating proposals for months before making decisions, giving more power to managers and employees at every level. "Our people have a lot more freedom to get things done than be­fore," he observes.

Instead of a rigid 12 hierarchical structure, Mann formed teams to tackle routine problems as well as special situations. For example, a team of assembly-line workers assumed com­plete responsibility for designing a more efficient production process for laser printers. When all members of the team were satisfied that the new process would work, they signed their names to the proposal¾and were given the authority to imple­ment the change.

Similarly, teams of people from manufacturing, finance, marketing, and other departments are totally responsible for designing and producing new products. Because the depart­ments coordinate 13 their efforts from the start, they can get a new product to market in about half the time they needed under the IBM system. What's more, they've been able to double the number of products under development without adding more designers.

With these organizational changes in place, Lexmark was able to introduce an ambitious new-product program only months after leaving the IBM family. The company revamped its existing printers and came up with a new line of laser print­ers, which were praised by computer magazines for their sim­plicity, reliability 14, and print quality. In addition, Lexmark re­cently became the first company to offer ink-jet printers with 1,200 dots-per-inch print quality. The new line of printers offers photographic quality printouts with 38 percent higher print density 15 than the nearest competitor. Furthermore Lexmark workers (not managers) set and then achieved a goal of 100 per­cent accuracy in making and shipping 16 the millions of items Lex­mark produces every year. As a result of these and many other initiatives, sales are strong, profit margins 17 are increasing, man­ufacturing costs are down, and quality is up.

Lexmark has established itself as a technology leader on solid financial ground. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency even named the company its 1996 "Office Equipment Printer Partner of the Year:' No wonder Mann sees the "print­ing on the wall" for a bright future.