The Andon System

This past week I received a lot of positive feedback about the last blog on dating, so thank you for that. I figure maybe I'll touch on that topic a little more often.

In business school we took a class called Operations. I didn't particularly care for it, as to me the scenario of sorting and sifting through a cranberry processing plant never really seemed like it would be particularly applicable to anything I would ever be doing...except for that time I worked at a CRANBERRY PROCESSING PLANT! No. I lie. I didn't. I never worked at a cranberry sorting factory. I remember the final exam for that class being particularly cruel to me. It was probably a fair exam, but just not to me. It was the type of test where you open up see the first question, decide to skip it and come back later, and tackle question two first, and then five minutes later you find that you've flipped through the whole test and are back at question one, staring you in the face saying "now who wishes they'd paid attention to that cranberry sorting factory case study?"

I remember one question had to do with waiting in line at a hamburger stand, and there were three cashiers, a rate to build the burgers, a rate on how long it took to fill the sodas, and something about how many customers could be served in a certain window of time if it was a Leap Year or something. I think my answer was go next door to the taco stand where there's no line. I did learn though. I learned about the Andon system. To make it short and sweet, the Andon system is basically a way to signal an issue at a particular workstation in a manufacturing plant. If an issue occurs, work is stopped, the problem is quickly isolated, and the proper remedies are deployed in order to get the process up and running again. Simple and brilliant. Today, the Andon systems are way more involved, and I'm sure there are all kind of crazy computer programs and microchips and weird looking UPS-guys diagramming the heck out of the Andon system.

Insert your favorite Thomas More horsehair shirt/self-mortification joke here

While the Andon system doesn't seem particularly groundbreaking today, it was considered groundbreaking many years ago. In fact the Andon system was pioneered by a company largely regarded as the toast of the town in the world of manufacturing. You guessed it, Toyota. Well well well. How the tables have turned. How the tables. Have turned. So this unlikely turn of events for Toyota this past week begs the question of how a (now presumed) best-in-class car manufacturer can let something so important, like a issue with brakes, literally and figuratively run themselves off the road. Are you ready for some metaphors?

I really like the idea of the Andon system in the context of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. If you don't use it (Toyota), what's the point of even having it.

Say you are dating someone. This someone is cool. This someone is popular. This someone is also fuel-efficient. However, you know that there's an issue, and it's not something insignificant. You see that Andon cord (it used to literally be a cord before things became automated) and you're staring at it. This someone starts going all "bitches be crazy" more and more often, and you're just staring at that Andon cord, kind of hoping someone will pull it and stop the craziness to address the problem, but the only person who can possibly pull that cord is you. And you just stare at it because pulling it is not the easy thing to do. This doesn't just apply to dating of course. It applies to jobs too and pretty much just about everything else on this planet. Sometimes you just have to do the difficult thing and pull that Andon cord. Toyota more than anyone else should have known better. I will dismount my soapbox now.

On to more pleasant things though. With one week of the new job under my belt I can say with a high confidence interval that I'm probably going to be able to have more of a social life this next four months than I had the last four months. In fact, I actually made plans for wait for it, wait for it...mid-week. Yup. It's going to happen (hopefully/possibly).

That's about all I got. Go enjoy the Super Bowl folks.