LOOK FOR SIMPLE SOLUTION

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 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.