Working Smarter: Turning Performance

Productivity in any pursuit is enhanced by working smarter. Using a feedback loop to gauge work in progress is a smart path to productivity. Another way is to identify and eliminate sources of error. A skilled man reading a micrometer and turning handles on a lathe has been a tried-and-true feedback loop for many years. Now there are ways to take the man out of the picture, potentially speeding up the process while eliminating the possibility of human error.

As computer power and data storage have become more affordable smart people have developed smarter ways to perform tasks that speed up processes and reduce errors — all to increase profitability. After all, my friends, increased Return On Investment is what this is all about.

When I was in engineering school in the 1960s, we communicated with a computer using IBM punch cards. The computer took up half of the floor space in a 40′ x 100′ room. We made mechanical drawings with a compass and T-square. When I went in the U.S. Army in 1969 during the Vietnam War, the Army used my communications skills to further its mission. The U.S. military had a program then called Zero Defects. Pay attention to what you are doing and don’t make mistakes. Using punch cards to transmit data eliminated the possibility of error caused by a human reading a text and typing a keyboard on a teletype machine. Reducing error is important when human lives are at risk. When I went to war I was assigned to a joint service unit in Thailand with men from all three branches of the U.S. military. There were 12 of us. I didn’t know it at the time, but when I stepped off of the airplane at Don Muang Airport near Bangkok I was done with the U.S. Army.

Taylor’s Joint Service Commendation Medal

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