[BITList] Alternate Problem Solving

[franka]

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        *_PROBLEMS, PROBLEMS!_*
        _CASE 1:_
        One fine day, a bus driver went to the bus garage, started his
        bus, and drove off along the route. No problems for the first
        few stops - a few people got on, a few got off, and things went
        generally well.
        At the next stop, however, a big hulk of a guy got on. Six feet
        eight,built like a wrestler, arms hanging down to the ground. He
        glared at the driver and said, 'Big John doesn't pay!' and sat
        down at the back.
        Did I mention that the driver was five feet three, thin, and
        basically meek? Well, he was. Naturally, he didn't argue with
        Big John, but he wasn't happy about it. The next day the same
        thing happened - Big John got on again, made a show of refusing
        to pay, and sat down. And the next day, and the next.
        This grated on the bus driver, who started losing sleep over the
        way Big John was taking advantage of him. Finally he could stand
        it no longer. He signed up for body building courses, karate,
        judo, and all that good stuff.
        By the end of the summer, he had become quite strong; what's
        more, he felt really good about himself. So on the next Monday,
        when Big John once again got on the bus and said, 'Big John
        doesn't pay!'
        The driver stood up, glared back at the passenger, and screamed,
        'And why not?'
        With a surprised look on his face, Big John replied, 'Big John
        has a bus pass.'
        Management Lesson: 'Be sure there is a problem in the first
        place before working hard to solve one.'
        _Case 2: _
        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 tothe writing surface).
        To solve this problem, it took them three monthsand $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 3: _
        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 problem.







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