Engineering solution
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".
