My birthday was a few days ago. My ex-wife and good friend, Barbara, “surprised” me with a book (she always sends a book). Barbara is one of only a few people who know my interests well enough to select a book which will capture my attention. First Principles by Thomas E. Ricks is a story … Continue reading Strategy and Structure
“We have cracked insulators in an alternator bridge. We thought we detected them all at the end of the line but the small number we fail to catch can result in a thermal incident in a vehicle.” This wasn’t the first time I had heard this annoying distortion of language. A thermal incident is a … Continue reading The Story of the Cracked Insulators
By: John Allen It is the last week of December, 2020, and I find myself in my office browsing old project notebooks and articles I have collected and written over the last 30 years. Each made a contribution to the evolution and growth of The New Science of Fixing Things becoming the most effective group … Continue reading Effective Diagnosis with Diagrams
Well, 2020 has certainly been an interesting year for solving problems, technical and otherwise! I recently called a few folks I have worked with over the years solving tough product performance, reliability, and quality problems. Many are working from home and go to the plant or office once in a while. A few have suffered … Continue reading Strategy for Tough Problems 2020
“Have you ever seen a process like this before?” asked the company president. This was 90 minutes into a call scheduled for 30, but he was fascinated by how we had a Causal Explanation in only a few days when others had stumbled for months. “No, I haven’t,” I said. “But it doesn’t matter. In … Continue reading Functional Decomposition of Machine Behavior
His office had moved up and down the hall and across the building a few times over forty years. Mike was anxious the first time the company was sold but found that not much more than the name on the building had really changed. He didn’t pay much attention after that, other than to greet … Continue reading The Analytic Logic Map: Symptomatic and Topographic Problem Solving
“We have a scrap problem we are not happy with, and a backlog of orders we cannot ship. We just formed a task force and I would like your opinion.” I would rather he ask for my help than my opinion. He told me the cost of scrap and the value of backlog. Add them … Continue reading Grounds for Success
This case study gives us a chance to review the fundamentals of functional decomposition, and why it made this project, which had lingered like so many, a quick one. Like many projects, the starting point, dictated by those other than the technical group, led to a poor starting point. Often, hefty sums are paid to … Continue reading Case of the Run-Out Rotors
“We have been working on this for years and not been able to figure it out. Why do you think this guy from The New Science of Fixing Things can do it?” The plant manager had faith in his managers, one of whom we had worked for in the past, thus allowed him to engage … Continue reading Fast Work
“The truth is, the Science of Nature has been already too long made only a work of the Brain and the Fancy. It is now time that it should return to the plainness and soundness of Observations on material and obvious things.” -Robert Hooke, Micrographia Root Cause or Root Curse? “We have failed systems found … Continue reading Root Cause or Causal Explanation?
