[BITList] The value of engineering

[FS]

    You don't have to be an engineer to appreciate this story.

    A toothpaste factory had a problem. They sometimes shipped empty
    boxes without the tube inside. This challenged their perceived
    quality with the buyers and distributors. Understanding how
    important the relationship with them was, the CEO of the company
    assembled his top people. They decided to hire an external
    engineering company to solve their empty boxes problem. The project
    followed the usual process: budget and project sponsor allocated,
    RFP, and third-parties selected. Six months (and $8 million) later
    they had a fantastic solution - on time, on budget, and high
    quality. Everyone in the project was pleased.

    They solved the problem by using a high-tech precision scale that
    would sound a bell and flash lights whenever a toothpaste box
    weighed less than it should. The line would stop, someone would walk
    over, remove the defective box, and then press another button to
    re-start the line. As a result of the new package monitoring
    process, no empty boxes were being shipped out of the factory.

    With no more customer complaints, the CEO felt the $8 million was
    well spent. He then reviewed the line statistics report and
    discovered the number of empty boxes picked up by the scale in the
    first week was consistent with projections, however, the next three
    weeks were zero! The estimated rate should have been at least a
    dozen boxes a day. He had the engineers check the equipment, they
    verified the report as accurate.

    Puzzled, the CEO traveled down to the factory, viewed the part of
    the line where the precision scale was installed,  and observed just
    ahead of the new $8 million dollar solution sat a $20 desk fan
    blowing the empty boxes off the belt and into a bin. He asked the
    line supervisor what that was about.

    "Oh, that," the supervisor replied,  "Bert, the kid from
    maintenance, put it there because he was tired of walking over,
    removing the box and re-starting the line every time the bell rang.”


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