But striking that balance is not so easy: Systematizing everything has squelched some decision making that had once been left up to individual managers and sacrificed some workers' sense of individuality. "The smocks make you feel like a robot," says one worker on the cell-phone production line at Solectron's Brazelton, Georgia plant, which was purchased from Mitsubishi Electric last year. The worker was told that the smocks prevent static electricity from damaging sensitive circuit boards, although she already wears a special static-neutralizing wristband attached to a cord that binds her to the production line. "We didn't have to wear smocks when we worked for Mitsubishi, and we had great quality," says the worker. "Why should we have to wear them now?"

Meanwhile, the Mitsubishi plant's right-to-left surface-mount production setup was the opposite of Solectron's common-processes guideline. "Moving to the corporate standard always involves some pain," says Larry Sauls, the general manager. "Standardization of the equipment doesn't match our customers' unique requirements, and our changes have to support their needs, rather than support the company's standards."

That point was driven home last year after another Solectron plant failed to purchase equipment according to the new company standard. "The managers were trying to start up a production line very quickly, and, if they followed the rules, it would have taken about three months to get it up and running," recalls Phil Fok, the operations director. "These guys ordered equipment from an unapproved vendor, and didn't follow any of our common-process procedures."

The managers got the production line up and running in three weeks -- and also provoked Nishimura's anger. "He was going to penalize the guys for not following the rules," recalls Fok. "He said, 'We'll never get the leverage we need if we continue to act as independent entities.' I had to remind him, 'You hired people who do what you pride yourself on, which is the ability to get the job done for the customer, despite the rules.' "

And when the subsequent customer-satisfaction survey glowed with praise for the managers' efforts, Nishimura swallowed his harsh words. "This was the exception that makes the rule," says Nishimura, perhaps remembering his own break-the-rules days at IBM. "We're pushing hard for common processes and common practices, but the rules of the game are still 'customer first.' "

Alex Markels (alexm@email.com) writes on a variety of topics from his home in New York City. You can learn more about Solectron (www.solectron.com) on the Web.

Sidebar: Quality Qualities

Congress created The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award in 1987 to recognize performance excellence of U.S. companies. The award, named after the late secretary of commerce who served in the Reagan administration, is not given for a specific product or service. Rather, it requires a company to have a system that ensures continuous improvement in the delivery of products and/or services and provides a way of satisfying and responding to customers. Awards are made in three eligibility categories: manufacturers, service companies, and small businesses.

Solectron won the Baldrige Award in 1991 and 1997, making it the only two-time winner in Baldrige history. (Winners are not eligible to compete again for the award for five years, which means that the 1997 win is all the more impressive.)

The National Institute of Standards and Technology in the Department of Commerce manages the award with the help of the American Society for Quality and a board of examiners who are selected primarily from the private sector for their expertise in business and quality.

Here are the seven criteria for performance excellence as spelled out in the award application.

Leadership: The leadership system, expectations, values, and public responsibilities.

Strategic Planning: The effectiveness of strategic and business planning and deployment of plans, with a focus on customer and operational-performance requirements.

Customer and Market Focus: The way a company determines its customer and market requirements and expectations, enhances relationships with customers, and determines their satisfaction.

Information and Analysis: The effectiveness of data collection and analysis to support customer-driven performance excellence and marketplace success.

Human-Resource Focus The success of efforts to realize the full potential of workers to create a high-performance organization.

Process Management: The effectiveness of systems for assuring the quality of products and services.

Business Results: Performance results and trends and comparison with competitors in key areas: customer satisfaction, finance and the marketplace, hr, suppliers and partners, and operations.

You can learn more about the Baldrige Award on the Web (www.quality.nist.gov).