devendra_malik
New member
One of the most memorable case studies I came across 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 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 whoopee amount to do so.
But when a rank-and-file employee in a small company was posed with the
same problem, 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 of the story: Always look for simple solutions. Devise the
simplest possible solution that solves the problem So, learn to focus on
solutions not on problems "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"
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 whoopee amount to do so.
But when a rank-and-file employee in a small company was posed with the
same problem, 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 of the story: Always look for simple solutions. Devise the
simplest possible solution that solves the problem So, learn to focus on
solutions not on problems "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"