Leadership is practiced not so much in words as in attitude and in actions
Harold S. Geneen

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InspirEmail No 218 - October 17th, 2011 - A Simple Solution
'Inspirational messages to refresh the spirit and boost the emotional bank account'

A Simple Solution

One of the most memorable case studies about Japanese management was the case of the empty soap boxes, which happened in one of Japan's biggest cosmetics companies. The company had received several complaints from stockists that recent shipments of their soap had contained soap boxes that were empty.

Immediately the management isolated the problem to the assembly line, which transported all the packaged boxes of soap to the dispatch department.

So management asked the production engineers to solve the problem immediately and they worked very hard to devise an X-ray machine with high - resolution monitors manned by two people to watch all the soap boxes that passed along the production line to make sure none of them were empty. All this would come at considerable extra to cost to the company and management was not happy as it meant they would have to increase the price of their soap to cover the extra costs.

So management asked their production engineers to talk to all the staff who worked on the assembly line to see if they could come up with a simpler and less expensive solution to the problem.

When asked, one of the staff thought of a solution which involved using an industrial electric fan which was stored in the maintenance room and not currently being used. He positioned the fan at the point on the assembly line where the soap boxes passed by on their way to the dispatch department. He then switched the fan on at the appropriate setting and as each soap box passed the fan, it simply blew any empty boxes out of the line into a storage bin where they could be collected and reused, and the problem was solved.

Moral of the story - Always look for simple solutions to challenging problems and remember to seek help and support from all those people who are closest to a problem.

Author Unknown

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It's music to your ears

Music, be it listened to, played, composed or appreciated in any other way, has had universal appeal since the dawn of time. Pundits have tried unsuccessfully to understand exactly where music fits into the evolution of life. It's just always been there . . . read more >>>

Reaching for Perfection

The way to achieve excellence and perfection is through experience. And experience is filled with mistakes. If it were not, we would not learn very much from it.

It is admirable to aspire to perfection, but foolish indeed to expect that it will come quickly or without mistakes. It certainly pays to expect the best of yourself. It also pays to be realistic and patient.

Perfection in any endeavour is an aiming point, not a starting point. Let the desire for it push you, but don't let the absence of it stop you. If you're ever going to get anything done, you must start somewhere. More specifically, you must start where you are.

Even in our world of instant fortunes, instant communication and instant gratification, it is still true that anything of true and lasting value takes time and effort. Aim for perfection, and follow the less-than-perfect road that will get you there.

InspirEmail

A Simple Solution

Featured Positive Inspirational Story

It's music to your ears

Reaching for Perfection

- Inspirational Quote -

Obstacles don't have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it or work around it Michael Jordan

Obstacles don't have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it or work around it
Michael Jordan