Case 1

When NASA began the launch of astronauts into
space, they found out that the pens wouldn't work at zero gravity (ink won't
flow down to the writing surface). To solve this problem, it took them one
decade and $12 million.
They developed a pen that worked at zero gravity,
upside down, underwater, in practically any surface including crystal and in
a temperature range from below freezing to over 300 degrees C. And what did
the Russians do...??

They used a pencil.



Case 2

One of the most memorable case studies on Japanese
management was the case of the empty soap box, which happened in one of
Japan 's biggest cosmetics companies. The company received a complaint that a
consumer had bought a soap box that was empty. Immediately the authorities
isolated the problem to the assembly line, which transported all the
packaged boxes of soap to the delivery department. For some reason, one soap box
went through the assembly line empty. Management asked its engineers to solve
the problem.

Post-haste, the engineers worked hard to devise an X-ray machine
with high-resolution monitors manned by two people to watch all the soap
boxes that passed through the line to make sure they were not empty.
No doubt, they worked hard and they worked fast but they spent a whoopee
amount to do so.

But when a rank-and-file employee in a small company was
posed with the same problem, he did not get into complications of X-rays, etc.,
but instead came out with another solution. He bought a strong industrial
electric fan and pointed it at the assembly line. He switched the fan on, and as
each soap box passed the fan, it simply blew the empty boxes out of the
line.


Always look for simple solutions. Devise the
simplest possible solution that solves the problems