The Difference between Focusing on Problems and Focusing on Solutions
Case 1
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). To solve this problem,
it took them one decade and $12 million.
They developed a pen that worked at zero gravity, upside down,
underwater, in 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.
Case 2
One of the most memorable case studies on 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 package! d 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
whoopee amount to do so.
But 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, etc.,
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 out of the line.
Moral
Always look for simple solutions. Devise the simplest possible
solution that solves the problems
Case 1
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). To solve this problem,
it took them one decade and $12 million.
They developed a pen that worked at zero gravity, upside down,
underwater, in 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.
Case 2
One of the most memorable case studies on 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 package! d 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
whoopee amount to do so.
But 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, etc.,
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 out of the line.
Moral
Always look for simple solutions. Devise the simplest possible
solution that solves the problems
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