The Moral of the Story

WIZE · 13-03-2012 3:41pm #1

A toothpaste factory had a problem: they sometimes shipped empty boxes, without the tube inside. This was due to the way the production line was set up, and people with experience in designing production lines will tell you how difficult it is to have everything happen with timing so precise that every single unit coming out of it is perfect 100% of the time. Small variations in the environment (which can’t be controlled in a cost-effective fashion) mean you must have quality assurance checks smartly distributed across the line so that customers all the way down to the supermarket don’t get ticked-off and buy another product instead.

Understanding how important that was, the CEO of the toothpaste factory got the top people in the company together and they decided to start a new project, in which they would hire an external engineering company to solve their empty boxes problem, as their engineering department was already too stretched to take on any extra effort.

The project followed the usual process: budget and project sponsor allocated, RFP, third-parties selected, and six months (and $8 million) later they had a fantastic solution — on time, on budget, high quality and everyone in the project had a great time. They solved the problem by using high-tech precision scales that would sound a bell and flash lights whenever a toothpaste box would weigh less than it should. The line would stop, and someone had to walk over and yank the defective box out of it, pressing another button when done to re-start the line.

A while later, the CEO decides to have a look at the ROI of the project: amazing results! No empty boxes ever shipped out of the factory after the scales were put in place. Very few customer complaints, and they were gaining market share. “That’s some money well spent!” – he says, before looking closely at the other statistics in the report.

It turns out, the number of defects picked up by the scales was 0, after three weeks of production use. It should’ve been picking up at least a dozen a day, so maybe there was something wrong with the report. He launched an investigation, and after some work, the engineers come back saying the report was actually correct. The scales really weren't picking up any defects, because all boxes that got to that point in the conveyor belt were good.

Puzzled, the CEO traveled down to the factory, and walked up to the part of the line where the precision scales were installed.

A few feet before the scale, there was a $20 desk fan, blowing any empty boxes off of the belt and into a bin.

“Oh, that,” says one of the workers — “one of the guys put it there ’cause he was tired of walking over every time the bell rang”.

Biggins · 13-03-2012 3:43pm

WIZE wrote: »

..

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ThinkAboutIt · 13-03-2012 3:43pm

..Is you're gay.

drunkmonkey · 13-03-2012 3:43pm

.

stephen_k · 13-03-2012 3:43pm

... A hand in the bush is worth two on the bird.... Or something

Duggy747 · 13-03-2012 3:45pm

Moral of the story is I'm fabulous, dahling!

Nailz · 13-03-2012 3:46pm

Que pasa?

MickySticks · 13-03-2012 3:47pm

Cool story bro...

Sindri · 13-03-2012 3:47pm

Slow and steady wins the race?

Chuck Stone · 13-03-2012 3:48pm

The Americans spent 3 billion dollars developing a pencil that would write in zero gravity.

The Russians just used crayons...

... or something like that.

MickySticks · 13-03-2012 3:48pm

Sindri wrote: »

Slow and steady wins the race?

No, Rock on Ruby did.

CardBordWindow · 13-03-2012 3:49pm

Never ever play leapfrog with a unicorn?

Juicyfruit · 13-03-2012 3:50pm

Never eat yellow snow?

JustAddWater · 13-03-2012 3:51pm

MickySticks wrote: »

Cool story bro...

Cool story bro

Sunnyisland · 13-03-2012 3:56pm

A crow was sitting on a tree, doing nothing all day. A small rabbit saw the crow, and asked him, "Can I also sit like you and do nothing all day long?" The crow answered: "Sure, why not." So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the crow, and rested. All of a sudden, a fox appeared, jumped on the rabbit and ate it.
Moral of the Story: To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be sitting very, very high up.:p

Immaculate Pasta · 13-03-2012 3:57pm

Dogs look funny in fast food costumes http://buffetoblog.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/costume-dogs-in-fast-food-costumes.jpg
:cool:

Nothingbetter2d · 13-03-2012 4:28pm

Chuck Stone wrote: »

The Americans spent 3 billion dollars developing a pencil that would write in zero gravity.

The Russians just used crayons...

... or something like that.

wrong

nasa spent 3 bil developing a ball point pen what would work in space

russians just used pencils

foxyboxer · 13-03-2012 4:33pm

You tried hard and failed miserably. The lesson is, never try.

Praetorian Saighdiuir · 13-03-2012 4:35pm

Two little mice fell in a bucket of cream. The first mouse quickly gave up and drowned. The second mouse, wouldn't quit. He struggled so hard that eventually he churned that cream into butter and crawled out.