Tension field R&D and Production
In one way or another, there is often a tension between development and production. Collaboration is not always obvious.
For example, I once had an engineer in my team who was clearly not too keen to ask his production colleagues whether there was anything that could be improved from an assembly point of view.
After a long discussion between him and me, he trudged sulkily to the production hall. He stayed out all morning. When he returned, he waved his notepad. “Almost 3 A4s full. I will go back tomorrow.”
I think I looked at him in disbelief. Was I fooled?
We looked at each other quizzically and he apologized. Apologies for his arrogance for not wanting to talk to the mechanic.
The proof is in the pudding
He had now seen with his own eyes how his design was assembled. And put parts together himself. Or rather, only beaten up by force. His design was very easy to assemble in CAD, behind his PC. In practice it turned out to be a different story.
For example, every now and then a screw fell into a tube. The mechanic could no longer reach. Unless an opening was made in the tube; then he could fry that screw at the bottom of the holder out again.
Worst case, saved him a walk to the warehouse. And filling out a receipt. And wait for his turn. Seriously, losing a few screws took the mechanic 20 minutes of hassle!
(For the attentive reader: no indeed, no kanban container system at the workplace yet).
The moral of the story: working together pays off!
