Making a car can be one hot potato

Re-printed from Automotive News / October 14, 2002

Call it the allegory of the baked potato. This comparison of how different automakers might bake a potato has been making the rounds on the industry's e-mail circuit.

Note from Steve:
Maybe you have to work for an automotive supplier to find this funny, but I'm guessing much of this translates to other business. Oh, by the way, this is a very accurate analogy.

How a Honda employee bakes a potato:

• Preheat new, high-quality oven to 350° F
• Insert Idaho potato
• Go do something productive for 45 minutes
• Check for doneness, then remove perfectly baked potato from oven and serve

How a GM employee bakes a potato:

• Instruct an Idaho potato supplier to preheat the oven to 350° F
• Demand that the supplier show you how he turned the dial to reach 350° F, and have him come up with documentation from the oven manufacturer proving that it was calibrated properly
• Review documentation, then have supplier check the temperature using a sophisticated temperature probe
• Direct supplier to insert potato and set timer for 45 minutes
• Have supplier open oven to prove potato has been installed correctly, and request a free study proving that 45 minutes is the ideal time to bake a potato of this size and variability due to orientation within the oven
• Request a Six Sigma Study showing variable cook times for various potato sizes and orientations
• Check potato for doneness after 10 minutes
• Check potato for doneness after 11 minutes
• Check potato for doneness after 12 minutes
• Become impatient with supplier (Why is this simple potato taking so long to bake?). Demand status reports every five minutes.
• Check potato for doneness after 15 minutes.
• After 35 minutes, conclude that potato is nearing completion. Pass through Gate review reporting all Green status.
• Congratulate supplier, then update your boss on all the great work you've done, despite having to work with such an uncooperative supplier
• Remove potato from oven after 40 minutes of baking, as a cost save without loss of function or quality vs. the original 45-minute baking time.
• Serve potato
• Wonder aloud what on earth those Japanese folks are doing over there to make such good, low-cost baked potatoes that people seem to like better than GM potatoes.