Sometimes simpler is better

[BobSch]

You don't have to be an engineer to appreciate this story.

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 timings so precise that every single unit coming out of it is perfect 100% of the time.

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.

Six months (and $8 million) later they had a fantastic solution - on time and on budget. 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 project. 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. After some investigation, 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 travels down to the factory, and walks 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 the empty boxes off 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".

[TB Roye]

"KISS" in action.

[chopnhack]

ROFL..... I try to explain something similar to our higher ups.. I get the deer in headlights many times. I wish they would listen to the folks in the trenches occasionally.

[leehljp]

Funny! I agree that those in the trenches come up with the simplest solutions many times!

[LCHIEN]

clearly a made up story.
No customer buying toothpaste at a retail store would be so stupid as to bring home an empty box and then call the company to make a complaint. I sure as heck wouldn't put it in my shopping cart...!

[natausch]

I liked it better when our folktales had a giant blue ox in them.

Still a valid story, even if it is written to specificly prove a point.

[JimD]

There are principles used in engineering circles that lead to situations like this all the time. One of our processes requires a detailed charter to be developed before every project. You can't say something as simple as "stop sending out defective product" or "stop shipping empty boxes". You have to clearly identify to the "project manager" exactly what they are supposed to achieve. After you clear that hurdle, they have to be given time and resources to go do measurements and then after they call a big meeting to review their data they design several potential solutions. Then another meeting to go over the potential solutions. Then more time to implement and then more data to decide if the solution worked. More meetings to discuss each step. Lots of fancy statistical charts to manipulate the data.

These processes are typically an over reaction to somebody messing up really bad. We have those too including some software to do data sorting that was designed incorrectly alledgably because the sponsor didn't write down or otherwise communicate clearly the requirements. So now there is a form to make those requests and a more laborious process (multiple approvals required etc.). It isn't acceptable to say that somebody messed up and we punished them for it. We need to make the process much more time consuming and then force everybody who isn't having any problems to follow the new more laborious process.

Even harder for me to understand is why everybody has to talk about every bee sting, ant bite or spained wrist. It is supposed to make us safer.

Jim

[Denco]

I think that's a great story. I really enjoyed it.

[Richard in Smithville]

Whether the story is true or not, I see the principals in action all the time. Instead of asking the workers, the engineers come up with an idea that usually has to be torn out and rebuilt, then spend many weeks working out the bugs! I see this at my place of work all the time and they still don't learn!

[Cochese]

Sometimes we miss the intent of the story.

[jackellis]

In the power business, if there's a simpler way to do things and a more complicated way to do things, the more complicated way wins every time.

IBM is working on a smart grid project in the Pacific Northwest. They've made it incredibly complicated. It uses a lot of IBM hardware, consulting and "big data" analytics. It's going to be way over budget, and it probably won't work as well as it could. Hopefully an old colleague of mine who taught me a lot about simplicity will be able to help them sort it out.

[leehljp]

clearly a made up story.
No customer buying toothpaste at a retail store would be so stupid as to bring home an empty box and then call the company to make a complaint. I sure as heck wouldn't put it in my shopping cart...!

One afternoon after language study where our classes were near Akihabara in central Tokyo, a close friend (Mike) and I decided to go there. (Akihabara is the famous electronic district of Tokyo.) Mike was looking for some small room speakers. One store offered the display for sale at a good price with one out on display the other in the box. Mike bought them, and the salesman put them in a rather large bag, we walked up and down the district for an hour. Then he started complaining of the weight, so we decided to go home.

He lived in a different part of Tokyo than I did. About an hour after we both arrived at our respective homes, he called and said one of the boxes was empty! They left the display speaker out on the shelf instead of putting it in the box!

[leehljp]

These processes are typically an over reaction to somebody messing up really bad.
Jim

In our organization, we had some managers who would write more rules every time some person pushed one rule to the limit. I constantly complained that we didn't need more and new rules, we needed managers willing to stand up to those abusing a previous rule!

Once when umpiring a softball game, one team came prepared to psych out the other team(s). Every time a ball was hit deep, everyone would start calling "time out" "time out", halting an advancing runner in his tracks. There was not rule in the book about misuse of the "time out" rule. This happened twice in a row. After the second time, I called the coach over and team in and told them that there was no rule about abusing "Time Out" but if they did abuse the INTENT of the rule, the next person that did "time out" before a play is over - would be thrown out of the game and I would continue to do it as long as I was an umpire!

We didn't need more and new rules, we just needed enforcement of the intent of the ones in place! Simple is better!

The Time Out abuse stopped!

[Charlie R]

Developed & Made in the US

The concept of in motion weighing originated and was developed in Ithaca NY at Hi Speed Checkweigher. I built lots of custom scales there, some that could detect something as small as a missing pill and some that weighed items over a hundred lbs. Hard to believe their speed and accuracy.

[jwoldsr]

It is classic. When I was employed full time, we installed a "CIP" -a formal Continuous Improvement Program.

The underlying principle is typified by the statement, “If you want to know about dirt, ask the farmer.” He can tell you all about it in the most direct and complete manner. Nowadays, we have “Lean” and “Six Sigma” formal training and development programs spending millions teaching managers and executives to pay attention to the folks who do the job, and empowering them, the doers, to make the sensible changes.

Duh!