CEBU, Philippines - Heya, kids!
By now your parents must’ve asked you about your New Year’s Resolutions for 2013, even telling you to write them down on a sheet of paper.
If you’ve been having some trouble making that list, here’s a story that will help you complete it, a story that says a lot about the importance of keeping things simple.
There was once a soap factory that made hundreds of soap bars each day.
Being a modern soap factory, all of its equipment was automatic, with every aspect of the soap making process being handled by the latest soap making machines.
The factory had a machine that automatically mixed the soap’s ingredients, a machine that automatically molded the soap to form, and a machine whose sole purpose was to put the processed soap in individual boxes. Each of the machines were linked together by a conveyor belt system, which really made the production of soap automated and fast.
One day, the soap factory’s supervisor noticed that there was something wrong with the boxing machine.
He noticed that the machine would occasionally fail in properly boxing the processed soap, resulting to instances where empty soap boxes were included in the factory’s deliveries.
As a solution to the problem, the supervisor proposed to the factory’s owner that they should get an x-ray machine installed. As the soap boxes would pass on the factory’s conveyor belt system, an inspector could easily check if a box did or did not contain any soap inside using the x-ray machine.
Smart as the solution was, the factory owner wasn’t quite happy with it, since it meant that he would have to buy an expensive x-ray machine. That, plus he would also have to hire a new factory employee to monitor each soap box on the factory’s conveyor belt system.
Thinking of a better solution, a smarter idea came to mind, and being the smart man that he was, he opted for it. He didn’t buy an expensive x-ray machine, but rather, used an industrial electric fan.
He simply positioned the fan near the conveyor belt, and when an empty box did pass by, it was simply blown away from the line, ensuring that all the boxes that went on delivery did contain soap.
The moral of the story: Keep things simple.