Critical Chain - Eliyahu M. Goldratt [72]
I let him finish and then say, "Seventy-four hours, even if all the work is done sequentially, does not make up six weeks. Using two shifts, it's closer to one week."
"You have to add curing time and drying time. It all adds up."
"How long can it take? Curing and drying are twenty-four hours a day." And I make a wild, totally unfounded speculation, "So another two days. Where do you get the six weeks from?"
"Closer to four days. This is a three-layer job." Then realizing that he's still far from justifying six weeks, he adds, "And there are other jobs in the shop. We are a big place."
"Eleven people," Roger murmurs.
"So if you gave this job top priority," I charge on, "you could finish it in less than two weeks."
"We cannot give it top priority," he protests. "Every client wants his job rushed." His face reddens. "If we give everything top priority, our place will become a zoo. It's out of the question. I'll never allow it."
The way he talks one might think that he was the owner, not just a salesman. Then I realize, with eleven people in total, maybe he is the owner.
It's not wise to push a person into a corner, so for now I drop this topic. "Can we go over the cost calculation?" I suggest.
He relaxes. Here is a place he can tell me whatever he wants, and there is no way I can expose him.
Taking his time, he explains all the details. It's important to him to show me how cost efficient they are. I let him persuade me that he makes only six-percent profit on these jobs. Roger is yawning.
"There isn't much profit in this business," I say.
Roger wants to protest, but our coating man doesn't give him a chance. He immediately starts with another lengthy story that is supposed to demonstrate how careful they are with their quotes. One might get the impression that their mission in life is to save money for their customers. Maybe he is the salesman after all.
When the flood stops, I say, "You need more net profit. Roger's company needs shorter delivery times. I suggest you put it in your proposal."
"Put what?" He's confused.
"I'm not asking you to give anyone first priority," I clarify. "But, I think you should add some options. Options that trade price with lead time."
He still doesn't understand.
"Something like . . . doubling your profit for three-week delivery."
"Three weeks is out of the question!" He reacts immediately.
I don't know what else to say, when he continues, "But maybe we can do it in four weeks."
"It might work," I say. "So suppose they give you the molds in, let's say, March . . ." I look at Roger.
"There about," Roger confirms.
"Suppose they give them to you sometime in March . . ."
"I need the molds," the coating man says. "And I need clear drawings. From the minute everything is in my hands you can count four weeks and the molds, perfectly coated, will be delivered. But then I'm paid six percent more. That's the deal?"
"What date are we talking about?" Roger interferes.
"It doesn't matter," comes the grumpy answer. "I deliver four weeks after I get everything I need. All the pieces of the mold, not one missing, and all the drawings. Only then the clock starts."
He stresses it so much, it's apparent that here is where he usually loses the time. It's similar to what I learned from Ruth regarding printing houses. The same phenomenon.
"There is another thing," I say. "The smaller mold, is it possible, for that job only, that when it arrives, you drop everything else and work on it."
"No way," he says flatly.
I want to demonstrate to Roger that it is possible to build a resource-buffer even when dealing with a subcontractor, so I try again. "How much more money do you want for it?" If this mold were on the critical path, it would pay us to pay more.
"I told you, no way. I can't run my shop from one day to the next. That's not the way to run a place."
Remembering what Mark is doing in his project, I try the same. "I'm not talking