A common sense lesson from a toothpaste factory

This is an edited, old story of a toothpaste factory with an integrity issue before its customers, distributors and retailers. Many times, the factory shipped toothpaste boxes without the tube inside. The mistake was routinely discovered by filling clerks as soon as they brought out the boxes for stocking on supermarket shelves.

With hundreds of thousands of boxes being made and shipped out daily, the issue becomes formidable, much more so with a manual inspection.

The chief executive officer (CEO) assembled his management team. They hired an expensive external consultant who recommended buying a million-dollar high-tech precision scanner that would automatically stop the line, sound a high-pitched bell and flash red lights directed to all empty boxes on the conveyor belt.

Almost instantly, three workers walked over to remove the empty boxes and pressed a green button to restart the line. As a result, no empty boxes were shipped out of the factory. Problem solved. With no more customer complaints after one month, the CEO felt the million-dollar investment was well worth it.

He reviewed the daily statistical report and discovered the number of empty boxes picked up by the workers from the bin was consistent with their projections. In the third month, however, there were no more empty boxes picked up. What happened? The CEO looked with disdain at the factory manager and his team.

They were expecting to pick up at least two dozen empty boxes every day. The factory manager immediately directed his engineers to check the newly bought equipment and found nothing wrong with it.

Several days after that, the CEO managed by walking around inside the factory under the guise of greeting certain birthday celebrants of the day. As the CEO trekked inside the factory, he made a surreptitious view of the whole operation, including the line where the million-dollar precision scanner was installed.

He observed that just three meters ahead of the scale was a $25 stand fan blowing the empty boxes off the belt and directly into a carton bin.

Instead of the usual three workers, only one worker was managing the conveyor belt. He asked the line leader on the shop floor. Without any hint, he replied proudly to the CEO:

“That’s Bert, a newly hired contractual employee who thought the electric fan could help eliminate all those empty boxes.

“Is there a problem, Sir?”

Common sense

Indeed, common sense is God’s punishment for people who must endure dealing tactfully with others who don’t have it. Can the CEO blame the line leader and Bert for using an inexpensive and practical solution instead of the million-dollar precision scanner?

Management philosopher Peter Drucker (1909-2005) in his classic 1954 manuscript “The Practice of Management” said that “man should never be appointed to a managerial position if his vision focuses on the people’s weaknesses rather than on their strength.”

Still, I have interacted with a lot of managers who are repulsive to consulting people at the base of an organizational pyramid.

It’s not clear if that was the case of the popular Colgate toothpaste which was invented and first distributed in a jar in 1873. This brings us to an important question. Why would toothpaste manufacturers, including Colgate have to be sold in individual boxes, in the first place?

The boxes are routinely thrown away by consumers, no matter how beautiful they are.

My point is that why can’t we buy toothpaste without their boxes? What’s the logic behind it? My quick internet research tells me that the individual toothpaste boxes make it easier for distributors and retailers to stack and pack them that way during shipping and stocking on grocery and supermarket shelves. Big deal!

What if they’re sold in individual tubes sealed only with a shrink wrap, like what they’re doing with their Colgate Plax mouthwash? That toothpaste factory could have saved a lot with all those ideas before their eyes.

Eliminate, don’t automate

Aside from common sense, there’s one important lesson that we could learn from the toothpaste factory: Eliminate the waste, don’t automate, at least not yet. If not, use everyone’s capacity to think, instead of spending big money for the solution.

Even when high technology is positively disrupting the way we work, our priority should be to focus on process improvement rather than spending money on automating a system, like the expensive precision scale in our story.

This reminded me of Mario, a 50-something engineer who was working as a lead quality inspector for an electronics factory in Laguna. I asked him about his work. “I supervised a team of inspectors,” he told me.

“What’s the assurance you’re doing an excellent job? What are your key performance metrics? Is it about reduction or elimination of defects?” I asked. “We’re averaging a ten percent reduction,” he replied. “Is that enough?” Mario avoided eye contact before admitting it was difficult to improve beyond ten percent.

“What’s the view of management about that? Are they happy with it?”

“Management understood our limitations.”

“It’s good that your customers are not complaining.”

“Maybe they’re complaining but we’re not privy to them and their specific issues.”

Upon hearing this, my body went numb with shame for this person who’s not exactly an ideal quality inspector. I thought Mario should be fired for allowing defects to happen and be paid for it, alongside his team. But no. His arms were tied.

Rey Elbo is a quality and productivity improvement enthusiast. Contact him for free advice on Facebook, LinkedIn, or X, or email [email protected]. Anonymity is guaranteed.