When NASA began the launch of astronauts into space, they found out that the pens wouldn’t work at zero gravity (ink won’t flow down to the writing surface). It took them decade and $12 million to find a solution to this problem. They developed a pen that worked at zero gravity, upside down, underwater, on practically any surface including crystal and in a temperature range from below freezing to over 300 degrees C.
And what did the Russians do ? they used a pencil.
One of the most memorable case studies of Japanese management was the case of the empty soap box, which happened in one of Japan’s biggest cosmetics companies. The company received a complaint that a consumer had bought a soap box that was empty. Immediately , the authorities isolated the problem to the assembly line, which transported all the packaged boxes of soap to the delivery department. For some reason, one soap box went through the assembly line empty.
Management asked its engineers to solve the problem. Post-haste, the engineers worked hard to devise an X-ray machine with high resolution monitors manned by two people to watch all the soap boxes that passed through the line to make sure they were not empty. No doubt, they worked hard and they worked fast but they spent a whopping amount to do so.
However, when a rank-and-file employee in a small company was posed with the same problem, he did not get into complications of X-rays, but instead came out with another solution. He bought a strong industrial electric fan and pointed it at the assembly line. He switched the fan on, and as each soap box passed the fan, it simply blew the empty boxes off the line.
Learn to focus on solutions rather than on problems. You will thereby devise the simplest possible solution that solves the problem.
If you look at what you do not have in life, you don’t have anything.
If you look at what you have in life, you have everything.
And what did the Russians do ? they used a pencil.
One of the most memorable case studies of Japanese management was the case of the empty soap box, which happened in one of Japan’s biggest cosmetics companies. The company received a complaint that a consumer had bought a soap box that was empty. Immediately , the authorities isolated the problem to the assembly line, which transported all the packaged boxes of soap to the delivery department. For some reason, one soap box went through the assembly line empty.
Management asked its engineers to solve the problem. Post-haste, the engineers worked hard to devise an X-ray machine with high resolution monitors manned by two people to watch all the soap boxes that passed through the line to make sure they were not empty. No doubt, they worked hard and they worked fast but they spent a whopping amount to do so.
However, when a rank-and-file employee in a small company was posed with the same problem, he did not get into complications of X-rays, but instead came out with another solution. He bought a strong industrial electric fan and pointed it at the assembly line. He switched the fan on, and as each soap box passed the fan, it simply blew the empty boxes off the line.
Learn to focus on solutions rather than on problems. You will thereby devise the simplest possible solution that solves the problem.
If you look at what you do not have in life, you don’t have anything.
If you look at what you have in life, you have everything.
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