As most of you know, this
blog is all about integrating the Theory of Constraints, Lean and Six
Sigma. I’ve posted blogs about Lean and
Six Sigma tools as well as those associated with TOC. In my blog posting today I want to relate a
personal experience I had this past weekend and relate it to the basics of the
Theory of Constraints.
It was a typical weekend for
my wife and I in that we were doing the normal chores that most families
do. You know, cleaning the house, yard
work, etc. On Sunday my wife decided to
do a couple loads of laundry like she does most weekends, so nothing out of the
ordinary. I was in my office working and
when the washer hit the rinse cycle, I heard this strange gurgling sound coming
from our kitchen sink. When I got us to
check on the noise in the kitchen, I noticed the right side of our kitchen sink
filling up with water. Like most people,
I’ve experienced this symptom before, so I immediately reached for the plunger
and began working on the sink. The water
receded and I declared victory….the plug must have moved out. But was I right?
The washer filled back up
and continued on with the final rinse cycle, but this time I heard multiple
gurgles coming from the kitchen sink and our downstairs bathroom. When I went into the bathroom, the tub had
water in it and the commode water level was near the top. Oh boy, I thought, we have a major blockage,
so my victory was very short lived. It
was now late afternoon on Sunday, so I decided to wait until Monday morning to
call a plumber. After all, there is a
major premium for weekend plumbing work.
On Monday morning my wife
made arrangements for a plumber to come to our house to help us. I hadn’t had a plumber to our house in years,
so I was surprised at the technical tools our plumber had at his disposal. Ironically, the plumber we chose was the same
plumber that had installed the plumbing in our neighborhood some 12-13 years
earlier, so he no exactly where to look for the drain plug.
Being the TOC aficionado that
I am, the five focusing steps automatically popped into my mind. As I thought about it, it became clear to me
that our plumber unknowingly follows these same five steps. He questioned us about the symptoms we had
seen and then removed the cap from the drain outside. Since it was full of water, his immediate
conclusion was that the blockage was between our home and the street. He then insert his electrical device, referred to in plumbing
language as a “snake”, and turned it on.
It didn’t take long for him to remove the blockage and the water
receded. I thought he was finished, but
there was more.
The next thing he did was
insert a sophisticated camera and was able to determine the source of the
blockage. Of all things, a root from a
nearby tree had somehow made its way into our piping system. He showed me the blockage his camera had
observed and clearly there was a bundle of roots inside the pipe. My plumber had identified our plumbing system
constraint, so step 1 of the 5 focusing steps was complete!
We then talked about what
options we had to complete the fix. We
had to decide between two options. It
seems that this plumber had a cutting tool that could grind away the root
bundle and free up the pathway for water to evacuate. He explained that this would provide
temporary relief, but that, in time, the roots would grow back inside and the
problem would repeat itself. This option
would cost me about $700.
The other option was for him
to dig up my front yard and replace the obvious broken or cracked pipe. He had another tool that was able to locate
the exact location of the root bundle, including the depth. This option would cost around $2,500 to
complete, so my wife and I had a decision to make. We had to decide which option we wanted to
take, which we did. We opted for the $700
option, so step 2 was now complete, decide how to exploit the system
constraint. I decided to be a satisficer
rather than an optimizer. A satisficer
does what is necessary to solve the problem at hand rather than choosing the
perfect solution. The money difference
helped with our decision.
The plumber called out
another worker who brought a water jet cutting device and they removed the root
bundle. Problem solved (again)! So using the first two steps of the 5
focusing steps we were able to arrive at a temporary solution. But the story continues.
My wife called her sister
and explained what had happened to us and to her surprise, the exact same thing
had happened to her sister several years ago.
And then the real shocker came.
Her sister explained that they too had chosen the same option we did and
it worked just like ours did, but later on the problem came back with a vengeance. It seems as though this time it cost them
$15,000! My wife panicked as I did and
we ended up deciding to have the pipe replaced.
After all, $3,200 is much cheaper than $15,000.
As I reflected on the events
of this past weekend, another thought came to mind and this time it revolved
around Six Sigma and root cause analysis.
It seemed to me that I hadn’t really addressed the true root cause of
this problem…..the nearby tree! So I
have another decision to make in the near future….do I cut down that tree or
not? If I do, I lose some of my property
value, but if I don’t, this conceivably could happen all over again. I decided that I’ll put off that decision
until later. It’s funny how the work I’ve
been doing for so many years even applied to a plumbing problem!
Bob Sproull
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