Reminds me of an article from NASA about how they spent millions (in today's dollars) designing a pen that would work reliably in the zero gravity of space.
The Russians used a pencil. -Dave Walton On Jan 30, 2012, at 6:15 AM, "Gerry Archer" <arche...@embarqmail.com> wrote: > > > A Short Story for Engineers--- >> 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. 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 pissed >> 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 filed a bug against it, and 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 out 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". > > > _______________________________________ > http://www.okiebenz.com > For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com > To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
