Difference between Focusing on Problems and Focusing on Solut io ns

[Chamara, Chathuranga (LC)]

> > 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 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 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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