TOC, Eli’s invention, has grown into something far larger than “The Goal.” Eli moved beyond the shop floor into inventory, project management, marketing, sales, health care, and even K-12 education. His last book, “The Choice,” while still under the guise of a “business” novel, was really about making the right choices to live a full and meaningful life. The quotation Drew used in his article came from that last remarkable book. Eli was a extraordinary man in many ways and every minute of the time I spent with him is precious to me.

Jeffrey Schraeder
jeff@circlesofclarity.com

Also fun to see the competition at U of Maryland is working on interesting projects – we’re working on some cool stuff here at Clemson too.

We need manufacturing in the U.S. and here’s a good short story telling why: HP Printer Supply Chain Fiasco — A couple of weeks back in my CAD class, the professor began explaining the extent of knowledge needed by packaging engineers – not just knowledge of design, graphics, and marketing, but also of the engineering of the packaging. Stress tests are an important component of designing a package that ensures sufficient protection so that good end product reaches the consumer while keeping waste to a minimum. Most large companies use stress testing to measure the shock, vibration, and compression forces their product is subjected to throughout the supply chain and then to verify that packaging is built accordingly.

Hewlett-Packard was encountering a problem with their printer shipments – every printer was broken by the time they reached the consumer. This was a puzzler since HP had performed stress tests on their printers, and they passed. The only way they were able to recreate the damage found on the printers was by dropping them 3 feet above the ground.

This raised questions and the problem could not be pinpointed, so one of the packaging engineers decided to follow a shipment of printers all the way through the supply chain. There were no problems until he came to a loading dock in China. The printers were palletized, and as he was waiting for a forklift to come move the printers for shipping, he was amazed as he observed a group of 12 men gathering around the pallet to pick it up. What was even more surprising was when he saw how many of these pallets were dropped from several feet in the air, explaining why all the printers were broken. The problem with these printers was not the printer or package, but the lack resources at these overseas Chinese shipping docks to efficiently and effectively transport the pallets of printers to the boat.

I bet sources inside the U.S. are looking like a better choice for HP!

-Richard Zarnoch, Clemson University, Packaging Science Major