KISS

Subject:    Focus on Problems vs. Focus on Solutions-Don’t miss reading

1.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 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 whoopee amount to do so.
But when a rank-and-file employee in a small company was posed with the same problem, 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.
Moral of the story: KISS (Keep It Simple,Stupid) i.e. always look for simple solutions. Devise the simplest possible solution that solves the problem.

2.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).
In order 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 Russians do………………………..??
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以上短文的大概意思如下：
　　日本最大的化妆品公司收到客户抱怨买来的肥皂盒里面是空的,于是他们为了预防生产线再次发生这样的事情,工程师便很"努力辛苦"的发明了一台X-光监视器去透视每一台出货的肥皂盒。
　　而同样的问题发生在另一家小公司,他们的解决方法是买一台强力工业用电扇去吹每个肥皂盒,被吹走的便是没放肥皂的空盒。