I have read this forwarded email before but on 2nd thought this is still worthwhile to share again to others … maybe there is useful learning out of this .. rite
Case # 1: When NASA began the launch of astronauts into space, they found out
that the pens would not work at zero gravity (ink will not flow down to the
writing surface).
Solution # 1: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.
Solution # 2 : 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 soapbox, which happened in one of Japan ’s biggest cosmetics
companies. The company received a complaint that a consumer had bought a soapbox
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 soapbox went through the assembly line empty.
Management asked its engineers to solve the problem.
Solution # 1: Post-haste, the engineers worked hard to devise an X-ray machine
with high-resolution monitors manned by two people to watch all the soapboxes
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.
Solution # 2 : 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 soapbox 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.
· Always focus on solutions & not on problems.
