Companies are so immersed in the mentality of saving money that they forget that the whole intention of a project is not to save money but to make mo… - Eliyahu M. Goldratt

For a foreman, heat-treat seems like a very small kingdom, not much of a prize. There is nothing intrinsically attractive about running that operation, and having only two people to manage makes it seem like no big deal. To prevent it from seeming like a demotion to them, I make a point to go down there periodically on each of the shifts. In talking to the foreman, I drop some rather direct hints that the rewards will be great for anyone who can improve the output of heat-treated parts.

sit there marveling that we’re going to reduce the efficiency of some operations and make the entire plant more productive.

[Operating expense is defined as] all the money the system spends in turning inventory into throughput.