Strategic Restructuring: Operations and Engineering
Jason AlexanderBUS340: Business Communications
Instructor: Andrea Robinson
8/12/13

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
In this business proposal, it will be recommended to change the way the Operations and Engineering departments interface at the Easterling Munitions Factory (EMF). Currently, there are six operational supervisors – one for each part of the manufacturing process – along with three engineers – a chemical engineer, a manufacturing engineer, and a mechanical engineer. The roles are currently separated so the supervisors are responsible for not only the people, but the entire part of the process they are over, including the technical document writing. Engineers perform data analysis and are essentially on call for problems outside of the realm of the maintenance department. It is recommended that a strategic restructuring take place that gives ownership of the various process flows to the engineering department while supervision focuses on the people. This recommended change affects the chemical engineer, the manufacturing engineer, and the mechanical engineer, along with the production supervisors.
By restructuring the operations and engineering group at Easterling Munitions Factory, the supervisors will no longer be responsible for the technical aspects of the business. The supervisor’s primary focus is on the development of his/her employees. As such, the chemical, mechanical, and manufacturing engineers are properly utilized in their trained roles of chemistry, equipment design and function, and process functionality, respectively. This allows ownership of the entire manufacturing realm for the engineers, while allowing full employee ownership for the supervisors. This change will immediately benefit the company by fostering a higher employee development factor from the supervisor and higher technical aspects from the engineers.

In this business proposal, it will be recommended to change the way the Operations and Engineering departments interface at the Easterling Munitions Factory (EMF). Currently, there are six operational supervisors – one for each part of the manufacturing process – along with three engineers – a chemical engineer, a manufacturing engineer, and a mechanical engineer. The roles are currently separated so the supervisors are responsible for not only the people, but the entire part of the process they are over, including the technical document writing. Engineers perform data analysis and are essentially on call for problems outside of the realm of the maintenance department. It is recommended that a strategic restructuring take place that gives ownership of the various process flows to the engineering department while supervision focuses on the people. This recommended change affects the chemical engineer, the manufacturing engineer, and the mechanical engineer, along with the production supervisors.
In general, it would be more beneficial to the company to have engineers in the technical role for which they trained, rather than having production supervisors, who are trained in dealing with personnel, perform technical aspects of the business. “Engineers will develop the new processes and products and will create and manage new systems for civil infrastructure, manufacturing, health care delivery, information management, computer communications, and so on. In general, they will put knowledge to work for society and facilitate the private sector's potential to create wealth and jobs.” (Bordogna, 1997) To be more specific, one must evaluate the actual roles and responsibilities for which each engineer is accountable.
By nature, chemical engineers are very technical people that maintain a strong focus on a chemical’s properties, reactiveness, and interactions amongst themselves. In the realm of chemical engineering, there is a complex relationship between the various forms of chemical research. “There is a complex interrelationship among basic