After hearing the Toothpaste Box Lean Story, Wilson Lam shared this story, which is even better at making the point (and more lean!). I also shared this at our Morning Meeting.

“Country A Space Center employed famous consultant and used millions of dollars to modify the ball pen so that the ink inside the pen could overcome the low gravity and the astronaut could write in the space ship and space capsule. Country B spent zero dollar in the same project as their astronaut used a pencil to write in the space.”

I was recently told this story and shared it at our Morning meeting.

How a lean thinker thinks: 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 that every single unit coming off of it 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 that customers all the way down to the supermarket won’t get frustrated and purchase another product instead.

Understanding how important that was, the CEO of the toothpaste factory gathered the top people in the company together. 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, RFP (request for proposal), third-parties selected, and six months (and $8 million) later a fantastic solution was delivered — on time, on budget, high quality and everyone in the project had a great time. The problem was solved by using high-tech precision scales that 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 re-start the line.

A short time later, the CEO decided to have a look at the ROI (return on investment) of the project: amazing results! No empty boxes ever shipped out of the factory after the scales were put in place. There were very few customer complaints, 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 that 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 that 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. Lean thinkers use their wits…not their wallets.

5 Hacks, tips, tricks you can do with your tape measure that will impress your friends and help you get the job done a little quicker. Can you count the FastCap products?

Adam Tartt, Chief Operations Officer of MyEmployees sent this video of their employee TOTALLY engaged in Lean! “Watch Me Lean, Watch me 3S”. Gotta love this!!! Music – Silentó “Watch Me”.

Josh Newkirk, of MyEmployees, sent us this video showing how Josh and Cham tackle static electricity. Fix what bugs you!

John H. Kramer, of Cambridge Engineering sent us this video he received from Blaine Wieland where he thanks Cambridge Engineering after touring their facility. Excellent insights into Lean.

Paul Akers takes us along when he tours the Metabo factory. For more information on Metabo, visit their website.

Casey Johnner sent Paul Akers a question he had never heard before, “can you make too many improvements in single day?”

Patrick Molzahn, Cabinetmaking & Millwork Program Director at Madison Area Technical College, sent us this video showing how they implemented Lean!

Terry Jull sent us this video showing his initial steps on his lean journey using whatever he can find around him!

For more information on lean, visit 2 Second Lean.