Soaps, boxes and a fan to blow
This is particularly a nice story I got my hands on to. The study is about a soap manufacturer and how automation helped them reducing their defect rates and employee bonus too.
This company manufactured soaps, had state of art manufacturing unit and assembly line. Soaps were made, cut into cubes, packed into each of their small boxes. All this while soaps keep moving on the assembly line from one step to another. At the end of the assembly line they used to drop in a bigger carton. This carton was then sealed and passed on to the customers. The complete cycle had very minimal human intervention.
All was well and going fine when one fine day they received a complaint from one of its customer that some of the soap boxes in the carton were empty. Complaints became more frequent with more customers coming back with same problem. Top management could sense that customer satisfaction was going down and they needed to act fast.
Senior executives and managers got together to discuss the issue. Every one came with their ideas and support. Someone suggested using lasers to check if the box is empty, if it is so it should be moved out of the assembly line to a separate line. Another suggested creating a region on the assembly line where they can weight the soap, if the weight is less then expected, the box should be moved to a separate line. After days of discussion, analyzing the statistics and Cost-Benefit ratio, taking into account employee's productivity rate they finally decided to implement the laser mechanism. Complete assembly line was modified in the next one month, while workers worked manually all this while to remove the empty boxes to make sure no more complaints are reported.
Finally the system was tested and was ready to use. Change had proved successful beyond expectations and lasers were doing what they were supposed to. Top management was really happy to see the result and customer satisfaction going up. But all this had come for a price. It had cost the company a hefty bill and employees had to do away with their quarter bonus.
At the end of the first week since new installation, CEO decided to go around the factory floor and do some inspection. He wanted to check out the workers and see how they must be relieved to see the new technology in place and how it has improved their efficiency. Though at the back of his mind he knew that workers were a bit upset because of the loss of bonus, but he could not wait to hear the good things from them. He went around the factory, before deciding to speak to the man standing at the end of the assembly line. He thought to himself who else can be the best person to ask for comments than the person who has been in the firing line.
He went near him and asked 'What do you feel about our new Multi-million dollar; Six Sigma approved robots and lasers?' The worker looked at the CEO with a disgusted expression but did not say anything. 'You must know that it has a success rate of 99.9%.' said the CEO expecting a response this time. The worker gave him a hard look and said 'I kept telling them give me $50, I will get a fan, put it right next to me and it will solve the problem by 100%'. The CEO was taken back with the response, but as top managers do he maintained his gesture and said 'This is a centralized air conditioned unit with no single particle of dust. What do you think your $50 fan would have done?'. The worker gave a sigh, looked calmly into the eyes of the CEO and said 'It would have blown away the empty boxes'. CEO realized he has stepped on the wet soap bar and has slipped a long way.
Sometimes most complex problems have a very simple solution, its just about finding the right fan that can blow it away.
This company manufactured soaps, had state of art manufacturing unit and assembly line. Soaps were made, cut into cubes, packed into each of their small boxes. All this while soaps keep moving on the assembly line from one step to another. At the end of the assembly line they used to drop in a bigger carton. This carton was then sealed and passed on to the customers. The complete cycle had very minimal human intervention.
All was well and going fine when one fine day they received a complaint from one of its customer that some of the soap boxes in the carton were empty. Complaints became more frequent with more customers coming back with same problem. Top management could sense that customer satisfaction was going down and they needed to act fast.
Senior executives and managers got together to discuss the issue. Every one came with their ideas and support. Someone suggested using lasers to check if the box is empty, if it is so it should be moved out of the assembly line to a separate line. Another suggested creating a region on the assembly line where they can weight the soap, if the weight is less then expected, the box should be moved to a separate line. After days of discussion, analyzing the statistics and Cost-Benefit ratio, taking into account employee's productivity rate they finally decided to implement the laser mechanism. Complete assembly line was modified in the next one month, while workers worked manually all this while to remove the empty boxes to make sure no more complaints are reported.
Finally the system was tested and was ready to use. Change had proved successful beyond expectations and lasers were doing what they were supposed to. Top management was really happy to see the result and customer satisfaction going up. But all this had come for a price. It had cost the company a hefty bill and employees had to do away with their quarter bonus.
At the end of the first week since new installation, CEO decided to go around the factory floor and do some inspection. He wanted to check out the workers and see how they must be relieved to see the new technology in place and how it has improved their efficiency. Though at the back of his mind he knew that workers were a bit upset because of the loss of bonus, but he could not wait to hear the good things from them. He went around the factory, before deciding to speak to the man standing at the end of the assembly line. He thought to himself who else can be the best person to ask for comments than the person who has been in the firing line.
He went near him and asked 'What do you feel about our new Multi-million dollar; Six Sigma approved robots and lasers?' The worker looked at the CEO with a disgusted expression but did not say anything. 'You must know that it has a success rate of 99.9%.' said the CEO expecting a response this time. The worker gave him a hard look and said 'I kept telling them give me $50, I will get a fan, put it right next to me and it will solve the problem by 100%'. The CEO was taken back with the response, but as top managers do he maintained his gesture and said 'This is a centralized air conditioned unit with no single particle of dust. What do you think your $50 fan would have done?'. The worker gave a sigh, looked calmly into the eyes of the CEO and said 'It would have blown away the empty boxes'. CEO realized he has stepped on the wet soap bar and has slipped a long way.
Sometimes most complex problems have a very simple solution, its just about finding the right fan that can blow it away.
Labels: Short Stories
posted by Yogesh at
6:09 AM
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