Keep It Simple Stupid (KISS)

A toothpaste factory had a problem.

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They sometimes shipped empty boxes without the tube inside. This challenged their perceived quality with the buyers and distributors. Understanding how important the relationship with them was, the CEO of the company assembled his top people. They decided to hire an external engineering company to solve their empty box problem.

The project followed the usual process: budget and project sponsor allocated, RFP, and third parties selected. Six months, much money spent later they had a fantastic solution - on time, in budget and high quality. Everyone was pleased.

They solved the problem by using a high-tech precision scale that would sound an audible warning and flash lights whenever a toothpaste box weighed less than it should. The line would stop and someone would remove the defective box. They would then re-start the operation. As a result no empty boxes were shipped from the factory.

With no more complaints the CEO felt the investment was a success. He reviewed the line statistics report and discovered the number of empty boxes picked up by the scale on the first week was consistent with predictions. The next three weeks however were zero. The numbers should of shown at least a dozen boxes per day. The CEO had the engineers check the equipment, they verified the report as accurate.

Puzzled, the CEO traveled to the factory and viewed the line where the precision scale was installed. He observed just ahead of the expensive precision scale a cheap desk fan. He asked the line supervisor what the fan was used for.

The supervisor explained that the kid from maintenance uses it. He put it there because he was tired of walking over, removing the empty box and re-starting the line every time the audible alarm sounded.

DO WE SOMETIMES FORGET TO COMMUNICATE WITH OUR WORK FORCE?

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