Dear Friends of Atzari,
I posted the following verbiage below in a moment of either inspiration, exasperation, or delusion, depending on our viewpoint after jousting with a pompous knucklehead who kept questioning whether continuous improvement was possible, or even worthwhile.
I am sharing it with you since I thought you might enjoy it.
Cheers!
THANK YOU FOR MAKING ME WHAT I AM TODAY
We have not been introduced, but I have met you many times.
You have many aliases and go by many names, but you are one and the same,
"It won't work"
"We tried that before, and it didn't work"
"If there were a better way, someone would have already found it"
"If it ain't broke, don't fix it"
"It's our policy, so don't question it"
"That's what the management wants, so just do what you're told"
You have stood in my path many times.
And, yet, I must thank you, for you have made me what I am today.
Every time you challenged, me I grew in my knowledge and profession.
For you see, the best way to get me to do something, was simply to tell me it could not be done.
You were the one who inspired me to reduce a setup time from 8 hours to 15 minutes back in 1982.
"It can't be done, we've been doing it this way for 20 years"
You were the one who inspired me to design an automatic hemostat ring polishing machine in 1983
"Don't try it, it won't work. German craftsmen have been doing this for 80 years, are you wiser than them?"
You inspired me to replace an adhesive to melt two dissimilar materials to assemble an angioplasty catheter in 1985
"Our materials experts say it can't be done, so don't waste your time."
You told me that equipment maintenance could not be improved - that that was just the way it was.
"Several managers have tried, that's just the way it is. It can't be done, so don't think you're any different.
Yet after 3 years that maintenance department was rated tops by a leading regulatory agency in 1992
You told me that silicone would do what it was going to do and that the process could not be improved.
"We've been doing that for 20 years, who do you think you are, anyway?"
Yet for the first time in 20 years, after several Taguchi experiments, a defect free implant was created in 1996.
I carry your challenges like badges of honor - the purple hearts of past victories - the decals on an Ace's fuselage
So, please, "go ahead, make my day."
Tell me it can't be done. Tell me it can't be improved. Tell me that's just the way it is.
We have not been introduced, but I have met you many times. And we shall meet again ...
Your real name is old school thinking, and you are the best teacher I have ever had.
Thank you for making me what I am today.
- Jose I. Mora
