The famous pioneer of the automotive industry, Henry Ford, ordered to paint the corners of workshops with white paint a hundred years ago. When the shareholders asked Ford why this was done, the king of the assembly line replied that "this way the cars come out better." Let's try to figure out how the white corners are related to the quality of Ford cars.
Technologists have a rather subjective concept - "industrial culture". One and the same product, according to the same drawings, can be made with completely different quality levels.
They will make a little mistake in the production of one part, a little in the other … It would seem that each deviation is more or less within the permissible limits, but when there are a couple of hundreds of such parts in the finished product, errors add up, a marriage is obtained.
The legendary designer of Soviet guns Grabin recalled how hard the struggle for quality and this very culture of production was in the late thirties. Even in defense factories, sloppiness reigned in the shops and not always a high-quality attitude to their work.
When the plant received a large order for the manufacture of more than a hundred ZIS-Z guns, Grabin struck an order from the director of the plant to create standard guns. The order instructed to select the best parts made with minimum tolerances from a hundred sets of parts for guns. And from these parts to assemble only three reference guns - fully corresponding to the drawings of the designers.
How do you think the story with the reference guns ended? That's right, the desperate Grabin was forced to cancel his own order himself. It was impossible to assemble three ideal guns even from hundreds of guns.
What was the catch - it seemed like nothing, you couldn't touch it with your hands. However, this lowest culture of production showed up in full growth. As a result, the plant continued a tough battle with military representatives for "conditional suitability" and acceptance of almost every second not very suitable part.
Grabin had to fight for quality using non-standard methods. The commission walked through the workshops, gutted the workers' lockers. They threw away the old trash, ruthlessly went to the trash old working drawings. As the constructor itself explained:
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- It is quite possible to work on such a drawing. But when a locksmith holds a drawing that is torn and stained with oil in his hands, for some reason the detail also comes out not of the best quality.
Following the same principle, the designer transferred the designers to a new building with large windows on both sides. And it wasn't just that draftsmen needed good lighting. In a sunlit, spacious and well-ventilated office, people enjoy working. The result was not long in coming, the quality of the guns went up sharply.
The aircraft designer Yakovlev, the father of the famous military Yakov, also wrote about the importance of the worker's inner attitude for quality production. At his first own factory (in fact, in the workshop of a bed workshop), the first thing the designer ordered was to remove scraps of pipes, fittings, etc., and certainly to lay plank floors.
This was not necessary for the production of the aircraft; an earthen floor would have been quite satisfied. The aviator was guided by all the same considerations - in a clean and comfortable workshop and the car will come out great.
Another innovation of Yakovlev was to paint the doors between workshops with white paint. He explained it this way. Workers are used to opening doors not with their hands, but with their feet. It is even kind of convenient if you are carrying something in your hands. But such an attitude is unacceptable.
Just for reasons of the same production culture. On the white doors, the footprints of the soles were clearly visible and gradually the workers began to open the doors as expected. At the same time, the designer did not introduce any punishments for this, people themselves decided that it was better to work in a clean shop.
From the same series, the tradition introduced by Grabin is to come to work without delay, on time. Some disorganized designers were often late, but Grabin did not issue reprimands. Instead, he went out every morning before the start of his shift to the entrance and politely greeted each latecomer by the hand. Things went well right away.
In the Soviet years, at large factories, there was a tradition with the entire workshop to go out and improve the territory, clear and pave paths, plant flowers. It would seem, what does flowers have to do with the production of heavy tractors or textiles? Nevertheless, these traditions had an extremely positive effect on the results of labor.
Already in our time, when Bo Andersson came to lead Avtovaz, one of his first innovations was - trash bins with detachable trash bags. Even the basket must be clean and tidy. At first glance - stupidity, but in fact - another brick in a conscientious attitude to their work, to the quality of products.
Likewise, Henry Ford a hundred years ago fought for the quality attitude of workers to what they do. He forbade the workers to put factory rubbish in the corners of the shops (as was the practice almost everywhere). And so that it was always visible and clearly visible and needed white paint.
The corners of the Ford factories shone with cleanliness and white enamel, and one after another mass Ford-T rolled off the assembly line. Machines produced by not very skilled workers, on a fast moving conveyor, but at the same time unprecedented quality at that time.
Such is the mysterious and incomprehensible "industrial culture".