Form Attachment A Attachment A Establishment Protocol

Attachment A: Establishment Interview Guide

FGP – Establishment Protocol

Establishment Background

Establishment (Company) Name: ______________________________

Location: ______________________________

Industry: ______________________________

Single or Multi Unit: ______________________________

Primary Contact Name: ______________________________

Primary Contact Title: ______________________________

Primary Contact Ph#: ______________________________

Other Attendees (Name/Title): ______________________________

______________________________

______________________________

______________________________

1. Introduction

• Thank participant(s)

Thank you for taking the time to speak with us today. We’ve set aside one hour for our discussion as we understand your time is important.

• Introduce research staff (Westat/BLS personnel) and ask for introductions of establishment attendees (note names/titles for each)

Westat is working with the Bureau of Labor Statistics in order to better understand how changes due to globalization, technology, and other factors affect the quality of industrial statistics collected in the United States across different industries, like yours. As stated in the background materials we provided, we are interested in learning what your company does, and how it has dealt, or is evolving to deal, with these changes.

• Discuss goals/topics for discussion

As I just mentioned, we would like to talk to you today about the following:

• What your company does, in terms of what it designs, manages, or produces;

• How have these processes changed in response to industry changes;

• How do you distribute or manage these processes, or activities;

• Who at this establishment, or within your company is most knowledgeable about these processes, or activities;

• How revenue from production activities is tracked, and what level of detail can be provided;

• [MULTI-UNIT ESTABLISHMENTS] How your location fits into the larger company as a whole in terms of these things.

There are also other topics we will want to explore. Our discussion may also naturally evolve based on things we learn that will help us better understand your company and industry. We are interested in everything you have to say and encourage you to speak openly.

Unfortunately there may be times where I interrupt in order to ensure all of the topics we are interested in are appropriately covered.

Before we start I’d like to cover your rights as participant(s) in this research

• In person interviews: Complete consent form

• Telephone Interviews:

  • The BLS, its employees, agents, and partner statistical agencies, will use the information you provide for statistical purposes only and will hold the information in confidence to the full extent permitted by law. In accordance with the Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act of 2002 (Title 5 of Public Law 107-347) and other applicable Federal laws, your responses will not be disclosed in identifiable form without your informed consent.

  • We estimate it will take you an average of 90 minutes to participate in this research.

  • During this research you may be audio and/or videotaped, or you may be observed. If you do not wish to be taped, you still may participate in this research.

  • The OMB control number that this research is being conducted under is 1220-0141, and it expires April 30, 2018.

IMPORTANT:

• IF MORE THAN ONE PARTICIPANT PRESENT, NOTE THE NAME AND TITLE OF PERSON PROVIDING INFORMATION.

• CONFIRM, WHERE NECESSARY WHETHER THE PARTICIPANT IS REFERENCING THE ENTERPRISE, ESTABLISHMENT, HEADQUARTERS, OR SOME OTHER ENTITY. TRY TO KEEP THE RESPONDENT FOCUSED ON THE SPECIFIC LOCATION THEY’RE AT

2. Establishment Detail

• I’d like to start by asking you to describe for me what [IF MULTI: this location of] your company does or what it makes and how this is done.

DETAILS TO CAPTURE

• Company process for manufacturing or producing products or goods – how is the company/worksite structured to create/design/produce a product?

• What does the company call what they do? E.g., manufacturing, design, assembly, etc…

• What do they create/design/produce – if multiple products, what do they consider their main product?

  • Is this based on volume or revenue generated by product?

• What industry would they consider this company to be a part of?

  • Is this establishment represented or a member or any trade association or industry group? Which one(s)?

• [IF MULTI-UNIT ENTERPRISE] Position within a larger enterprise, how they relate to them? E.g. complete independence, they are told what to do; do they handle one specific aspect of product production, etc…

3. Offsite Manufacturing

• Let’s talk more about the products this establishment [makes/has made]?

DETAILS TO CAPTURE

• Where does the manufacturing activity occur/where are their products made?

• Are there any special terms that are common within this establishment to describe this activity?

• If other establishments (offsite) conduct manufacturing for this establishment, how are they related to this establishment?

  • Are they in anyway affiliated with this establishment? Describe the affiliation:

    • Part of same company?

    • Owned by same parent company?

    • Owned by this establishment/company?

    • Completely unaffiliated with this company?

  • Does the offsite manufacturer produce final products or inputs into another manufacturing process?

    • If inputs, are they used in a manufacturing process done at this establishment, or somewhere else?

    • Does this establishment do any manufacturing (including assembly) using the products/inputs manufactured offsite?

• One of the phrases we like to use when asking about this activity is “to arrange for the manufacture of products,” what does it mean to “arrange for the manufacture of products?”

DETAILS TO CAPTURE

• What activities would they include/exclude?

4. Control: Product/Production

• I’d like to discuss control. There are many ways that control can be thought about, let’s start by talking about what control this establishment has over how products are made.

DETAILS TO CAPTURE

• Does this establishment control production of any manufacturing?

• What does it mean to control production?

• What decisions do they make/enforce?

• What restrictions do they have/what aspects of the process do they explicitly not have control over?

  • [MULTI-UNIT] Does this location have “final approval” over production (e.g., can another location/headquarters over-ride production decisions made by this location].

• Who determines what materials are used?

• Who provides those materials?

5. Control: Intellectual Property

• Another aspect of control is control over the idea of the product. To start, what terms, words, or phrases would you use for controlling the idea for a product?

[NOTE IF TERM ‘INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY’ IS USED – DETERMINE WHAT THIS INCLUDES: E.G., TRADEMARKS, PATENTS, OTHER.]

• What about controlling the design? Is that the same thing?

• What goes into the design?

• Does this establishment control the idea or design of any products?

• Does this establishment develop the design of any products? Is developing products and controlling product design the same, or are there differences?

• Does this control over design or products vary for different products?

DETAILS TO CAPTURE

• Who has primary control over the design?

• Does anyone else have control over the design?

  • How does the control of processes or over decisions differ between you and the production facility?

  • Can you tell me what they control and what you control?

• Who has the authority to make changes or modify the design?

  • Are there any limits or restrictions to these changes?

6. Ownership, Financial Control, and Financial Responsibility

• Finally, the last aspect of control is ownership and sale of the product. Who owns your products once they are made?

[NOTE: IDENTIFY IF INTERMEDIATE GOODS (E.G., PARTS OR COMPONENTS) ARE CONSIDERED FINAL. GET DETAIL ON HOW THESE ARE USED; IF THEY ARE ‘FINAL’ (NO ADDITIONAL CHANGES NEEDED BEFORE SOLD) OR ‘INTERMEDIATE’ (AN INPUT TO A SUBSEQUENT PRODUCTION PROCESS)

• Do you have any control over the sale of the product? Can you describe for me what that means or how you control the sale of the product?

  • Is this done by the establishment, the enterprise, or something else?

  • Are records kept at the establishment level, enterprise level, or something else?

• What happens if a product goes unsold?

  • What processes are in place to mitigate this: e.g, contract manufacturing, preorders, product shelf life/recycling

  • How is loss, or is there any loss to measure/track for any products?

• How do you track the value of a product, or the revenue it generates?

DETAILS TO CAPTURE

• How do they define ownership?

• Does ownership ever change during the process of production through sales?

• What does it mean to control the sale of the product?

• How do they track product loss, or prevent/avoid this?

  • Are there any special terms used to define this?

7. FGP Concept

One of the things we are trying to identify is companies that create or design a product, but do not actually manufacture that product themselves.

• Can you think of any specific terms or phrases that would be used to describe these companies?

• What does the term outsourcing mean to you? Does it apply to any part of your establishment?

• What does the term offshoring mean to you? Does it apply to any part of your establishment?

8. FGP Form

• We have a form that I would like you to take a look at (Attachment G). This has a number of questions that try to identify establishments that create or design a product but have someone else do at least part of the manufacturing process. Focusing on page 2, do these questions seem clear?

  • Would you be able to answer them for your company?

  • If you could what would you do to change them?

• Looking at page 3, is this information available for this establishment?

  • What level of detail is available?

    • Is this information available as shown in this form? That is, can this detail be provided without any estimating or additional calculations?

  • How easy/difficult would it be to provide this information?

9. Enterprise vs. Establishment (FOR MULTI-UNITS ONLY)

• As we discussed, this location is part of a larger company with other locations. One of the things we’re interested in is understanding how the manufacturing process is handled within companies as a whole. If we were to send this form to all the different locations of your company, would each one have different answers?

• Is there a single location that would know the most about the outsourcing done by the company as a whole?

• Are there any locations that wouldn’t be able to answer the questions?

• If we sent the form to the headquarters location, would they be able to answer these questions for each individual location? For the company as an entire, single, whole?

10. Information Access

Finally, thinking of all the points we covered, who in this establishment would be able to provide this information? This would be detail on the manufacturing process, control over product and design, product ownership and responsibility, and revenue sources?

DETAILS TO CAPTURE

• Department, Title, Location of person(s) for each:

  • Manufacturing process

  • Control of Product/Design

  • Product ownership/responsibility

  • Revenue Sources

    • What detail is tracked?

    • How difficult would it be to provide or generate detail?

  • As appropriate: whether this person has information for the enterprise

11. Anticipated Response

Thinking about the topics we’ve just covered, would you expect you or someone in your establishment to respond to a survey about this? Are there any topics that you think would be skipped over, or lead the survey to be refused?

12. Closing

Those are all the questions I have. I would like to thank you for your time and provide an opportunity to answer any questions, or listen to any other comments or thoughts you may have.