Section TwoReengineering
Reengineering, which is also called process innovation, core
process redesign, and business process reengineering, has
been practiced since the late 1980s, often by companies facing
intense competitive pressures. Essentially, reengineering is
directed at achieving large cost savings by eliminating
unneeded activities and consolidating work. It also sometimes
redirects work across traditional departmental boundaries in
order to accomplish work more quickly in cross-functional
teams. Accordingly, reporting relationships are sometimes
changed along with reward structures. The type^76 of service
desired by customers is the key to the process.
An example of reengineering is provided by its application
at Texas Instruments. In this application, the driving force was
the desire to reduce the time required for making customized
semi-conductor chips for a customer. In another example, the
driving force was increased competition. In this case, GTE
revamped its customer service process when it found that
customers wanted to call only one number for repair service, to
obtain answers to billing questions, or to obtain additional
services. Prior to reengineering, customers having service
problems called repair clerks, who then recorded the
information and then forwarded it to repair personnel. These
activities were subsequently combined into one job performed