DIFFERENT BY DESIGN

摘要

When it was established in 1994, the Lucent Technologies Product Realization Center (PRC) in Mount Olive, N.J., was supposed to be different. The product-development cycle at the company, then part of AT&T Corp., was too long, communication was slow, and costs were too high. The solution: co-locate manufacturing and development. By eliminating physical distance, Lucent reasoned, ideas would flow more quickly and more cost-competitive products would move to market faster. It was a simple enough concept, but the critical ingredient needed to make the relationship work is the right plant culture.