There Will Be Consequences

This is a long time ago (over thirty years) so there will be some condensing of time and paraphrasing. Early in my career, I worked on a factory floor. We worked a basic assembly line, and it was loud, hot, and not too comfortable, but hey, it’s a factory so it was what it was. What we made in the factory wasn’t important, but there were legal requirements for the parts to be of a certain quality.

Management sat upstairs in their air-conditioned offices and would occasionally rattle out arbitrary work targets to make shareholders happy, without any consultation with factory floor staff to see if the target was feasible, or in some cases, possible. 

I see the factory floor manager coming down from the office with an angry look on his face.

Floor Manager: “Okay, so we have to get 2000 units complete by the end of the month. They have shareholders visiting end of the month and they want to show off.”

Me: “What! That’s impossible!”

Floor Manager: “You think I didn’t say that? But they said 2000 or there would be “consequences.””

Me: “If everyone pulls doubles, we might be able to just make that, but barely.”

Floor Manager: “I also explained that, but they said no overtime would be permitted.”

Me: “Then where are we supposed to just pull all those extra units from? Our a**es?”

Floor Manager: “Well they said if we didn’t do 2000 there would be consequences, but I said if we did deliver 2000, there would also be consequences.”

Me: “What do you mean?”

Floor Manager: “I said they could have the units fast, well-made, or cheap, but they can only have two of the three. They’ve gone for fast and cheap.”

Me: “So…”

Floor Manager: “So quality control is out of the window, boys!”

Me: “I hope you got that in writing!”

Floor Manager: *Holds up a piece of signed paper, smiling evilly.* “Yup!”

For the rest of the month, we worked tirelessly to meet the impossible deadline. By the skin of our teeth, we made the quota, but our product was far, faaaaar below the standard required by the law, let alone our own internal quality control.

At the shareholder visit at the end of the month, the management team was proudly boasting about the efficiency of the factory and bigging up the numbers. What they hadn’t intended was that our Floor Manager had used his networking to indicate to a quality inspector what might be going on. The surprise inspection was spectacularly timed to coincide with the shareholder visit.

It was a bloodbath.

Every single one of our units failed the inspection, and this was stated louder and louder with each example. The management was left babbling in front of both the shareholders and the inspectors until they decided they needed a scapegoat.

Management: “[Floor Manager], do you have an explanation for this shoddy workmanship?”

Floor Manager: “I sure do! Remember that work order that you signed at the beginning of the month saying you don’t care about the impact on quality as long as we got 2000 units finished by the end of the month without overtime?”

Management: “Well, of course, we didn’t mean to sacrifice quality by such a degree!”

Floor Manager: “Well here is that very work order stating otherwise, with your signature. Please share this with the shareholders and the inspector for your required explanation.”

Management, shareholders, and the inspector were left in the corner hashing out the details and the “consequences.” I am talking with the floor manager.

Me: “That was a bit much.”

Floor Manager: “I told them there would be consequences.”

Me: “Yes, but did you have to laminate the work order?”

Floor Manager: “That’s me holding back. I almost had it framed!”

By the next month, the entire management team was gone. Heads were rolling and there were legal consequences. Within the year the Floor Manager was in the proper management circle, and we never sacrificed quality to appease distant shareholders ever again.

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