To: All
Subject: Business bit - Small Holes sink a ship
Truly small holes sink a ship. Holes that you do not see but are plenty, sink a ship. Not the big ones. Because the big ones are visible, surely many will see them
and thus prevent the ship from leaving port, or is given top priority among the work. But the small ones are neglected:
Related thoughts:
1. God is in the details;
2. Those who can not be trusted in small things can not be trusted in big things;
3. PDCA - Check check check
4. Gemba kaizen - the actual battle field in business is the sales office or the manufacturing plant. This should be visited by the boss
and observed carefully. It is not enough to depend on written reports
5. Small losses add up, ,small cost reduction add up over the years and in the entire enterprise. Nothing is ever to small not to deserve your attention:
6. Be careful of your thoughts, they become your words, your words become your action
7. "For want of a nail, (horse)shoe was lost, for want of a shoe, a horse was lost, for want of a horse the soldier was lost, for want of a soldier an army
was lost, for want of an army a kingdom was lost
8. In writing the presence or absence of a comma can change the thought of a sentence
9. Some children are born defective or have serious congenital diseases because of defective gnome sequencing of a chromoome
Anecdotes
1. The Fukushima reactor had a meltdown, because a cooling pump failed to function because the battery wras grounded by the flooding; the same thing happened in nuclear accident in Chernobyl Russia. A worker failed to turn on the valve for cooling after a test was conducted. Imagine a high tech equipment failing because of a negligent worker, and a valve that was left open
2. The roro that sank of Batangas bay and somewhere in Belgium, sank because the ramp was not closed;
3. The JAL plane which cost Boeing nearly half a billion was caused by worker failing to install 7 rivets, just 7 rivets. He forgot about this because he had lunch
4. In my experience, there was a formwork failure and an entire batch of concrete needed to pour on a slab was wasted; it was good nobody was hurt because of same negligence - the formworks carpenter failed to secure the formwork by pounding a coupe of 5 inches nail.
5. In the movie Crimson Tide, a nuclear world war could have started had the order to torpedo a Russian sub was carried out, despite an incomplete communication Denzel Washington averted this, because he had the sense to disobey Gene Hackman the captain, unless the complete message was received
ACTION POTENTIAL:
1. Employ the 5H and 1W in your repertoire when making a plan of action;
2. Ask the question why five times;
3. Read the literature on the subject before proceeding;
4. Be meticulous before any action; avoid shooting from the hips
5. Learn from your mistakes.
