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If It Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It by Britt Storkson Owner, P2FlowLLC The corporate landscape is littered with attempts to “fix” things either not “broken” or needing only minor changes or adjustments to make them work in a satisfactory manner. Often, these fixes come in the form of additional and/or altered com- puter controls. Everything is better when it’s “computerized”, right? I must confess I like computers. I make and sell computers. However, if my computers did not serve needs simply and cost-effectively, I wouldn’t be doing any- one any favors. Sometimes a noncomputer solution is the best approach, like a whiteboard or simple pad and pencil, pen, or marker located where needed. Other times, a partial computer solution is best. One example would be a counter, sensor, or a logic function - where if the switch trips, then do something else - can be a simple, inex- pensive solution. A place I worked at some years ago made connector cables and I made several “cable testers” for them. These were inexpensive, battery-powered, portable, and fit the application exactly. The worker simply plugged in the cable to be tested, pressed a button, and the tester indicated good or bad. There was a computer-driven machine available to do this, but it was many times more expensive, not portable, and required considerable time to configure for a given task. Maybe it was useful for some things, but the workers were much more comfortable using the simple black box I made. The following is a short story illustrating the “simpler is better” approach: A toothpaste factory had a problem: Due to the way the production line was set up, sometimes empty boxes were shipped without the tube inside. People with experience in designing production lines will tell you how difficult it is to have everything happen with timings so precise, every single unit coming off is perfect 100% of the time. Small variations in the environment (which cannot be controlled in a cost-effective fashion) mean quality assurance checks must be smartly distributed across the production line so customers all the way down to the supermarket won’t get frustrated and purchase another product instead. Understanding how important this was, the CEO of the toothpaste factory gathered the top people in the company togeth- er. Since their own engineering department was already stretched too thin, 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, request for proposal, third-parties selected, and six months (and $8 million) later a fantastic solution was delivered - on time, on budget, of high quality, and everyone in the project had a great time. The problem was solved by using high-tech precision scales which would sound a bell and flash lights whenever a toothpaste box would weigh less than it should. The line would stop, and someone had to walk over and yank the defective box off the line, then press another button to restart the line. A short time later, the CEO decided to have a look at the return on investment of the project and saw amazing results! No empty boxes ever shipped out of the factory after the scales were put in place. There were very few customer com- plaints, and they were gaining market share. “That was some money well spent!” he said, before looking closely at the other statistics in the report. The number of defects picked up by the scales was 0 after three weeks of production use. How could this be? It should have been picking up at least a dozen a day, so maybe there was something wrong with the report. He filed a bug against it, and after some investigation, the engineers indicated the statistics were indeed correct. The scales were NOT picking up any defects, because all boxes which got to that point in the conveyor belt were good. Perplexed, the CEO traveled down to the factory and walked up to the part of the line where the precision scales were installed. A few feet before the scale, a $20 desk fan was blowing any empty boxes off the belt and into a bin. Puzzled, the CEO turned to one of the workers who stated, “Oh, that. One of the guys put it there ’cause he was tired of walking over every time the bell rang!” $8 million vs $20. Hmmm! Money well spent? < author unknown > Note: At least this equipment actually worked as intended. I’ve seen companies spend far more than $8 million and end up with equipment which either did not work at all or, more often, did not work fully as intended. While this project was a suc- cess in that it worked as planned, it was a failure in that it was far too complex and costly for the task at hand. The solution did not fit the scope of the problem, which makes it a failure. Britt Britt Storkson may be contacted via e-mail to michele@worldwidedrillingresource.com 39 WorldWide Drilling Resource ® JANUARY 2018 Atlantis Vault • Self-Contained • Simple installation • Trouble-free operation For more information call: (270) 786-3010 or visit us online: www.geothermalsupply.com