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"Expectations in a team environment are much higher here than at any other place where I've worked," says Larry Williams, 42, director of human resources. "And a lot of those expectations are ones that we place on ourselves. Being part of a team creates a different sense of accountability. Everybody expects more from everybody else."

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Information is the lifeblood of any team-based system. That's why Jim Lyons (like other managers at the company) takes an hour or two every day to walk around the shop floor, the offices, and the lab. "You want to remove all unnecessary barriers between management and the workforce," says Lyons. That's also why he never wears a tie at work, and why he considers it a point of pride that 90% of the plant's employees call him by his first name. "And this is the South, where people are very, very respectful," he laughs.

Opening the channels of communication can take other forms too: When Lyons arrived at Consolidated Diesel, management held two state-of-the-plant meetings each quarter, with one meeting taking place on each of two shifts. Those meetings were an efficient way to relay information -- but Lyons found that their size defeated their purpose. Holding them in front of an audience of as many as 700 employees eliminated any chance for dialogue.

To solve that problem, Lyons divided the 1,400 employees into 15 groups, all of which meet separately over a two-day period. The audiences are now a fraction of their previous size, and the number of questions that they ask -- ranging from "Are we going to close the plant?" to "Are we going to expand the plant?" -- has quadrupled.

"We share the good, the bad, and the ugly," Lyons says. When he is unable to provide an answer on the spot, Lyons follows up in "CDC Wire," Consolidated Diesel's weekly in-house newsletter, or on WCDC, the plant's closed-circuit television network. It's all part of the mix of philosophy and practice that sets Consolidated Diesel apart. "When good people are given good information," Lyons says, "they typically make good decisions."

Curtis Sittenfeld (csittenfeld@fastcompany.com) is a staff writer at Fast Company. To learn more about Consolidated Diesel, visit its parent companies -- Cummins Engine Co. (www.cummins.com) and J.I. Case Corp. (www.casecorp.com) -- on the Web.