Merlin Metalworks
After getting a master’s degree in business, spending time as a stockbroker on Wall Street, and
working as a manager in a traditionally organized manufacturing company, Ashley Korenblat
was hired as president of Merlin Metalworks. Korenblat, fresh from her experience at a large
company, was anxious to try out her own theories of the small, Albany, New York‐based
producer of bicycles. In short order, Korenblat had to contend with the following organizational
problems.
• Two welders, unable to get a decision from their supervisor, requested time off. One
welder had a dentist appointment and the other needed to leave early to pick up an
anniversary present.
• A review of the previous day’s shipping log revealed that nothing had been shipped. The
reason? A customer had called about a problem bottom bracket ‐‐ the place where the
bicycle pedals attach ‐‐ which made the customer’s $4000.00 bike useless. The customer
service department had the authority to stop everything to solve a customer’s problem.
In this case it meant turning off the final threading machine for a day which brought the
shipments to a halt.
• After little discussion, Korenblat made a decision to redesign the brakes on road bikes,
believing it would be less expensive. Shortly after the first production run began, the
person in charge of purchasing insisted on rehashing the decision. It turned out that the
new design would lead to a series of new expenses ‐‐ adding up to more than the
expected savings.
• In an effort to have the employees make decisions and be more independent, the
machine department was organized into teams. The teams were responsible for
developing the production schedule, determining the size of the production runs, and
coordinating the 35 operations in any given production run ‐‐ some of which were
linear, others which proceeded simultaneously. All went well until the company
approached a six‐month backlog in a seasonal business.
To respond, Korenblat kept increasing the size of the runs ‐ “I’ll know you made 200 57‐
centimeter bikes.” The result: the machine shop came to a standstill, waiting for the next
command.
