Its more of the longer bolt not the missing bolt. The longer bolt not seen by many was causing problems in the axle assembly. Until Henry Ford found it.
You have to have sharp eyes and perceptive mind to see problems in business
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
**THE “MISSING BOLT PRINCIPLE”:
How Henry Ford Saved Millions by Fixing the One Thing No One Saw**
In the early 1900s, Henry Ford’s factories were pumping out cars faster than any business in history.
But Ford noticed something strange:
Each defective unit cost Ford money… in repairs, delays, and scrap metal.
Engineers inspected the part dozens of times.
Machines were recalibrated.
Workers were retrained.
But the failures kept happening.
Finally, Ford walked down to the line himself.
He watched the entire process …slowly, carefully, silently.
After nearly an hour, he pointed to a tiny spot most people overlooked:
A single bolt.
It wasn’t loose.
It wasn’t broken.
It wasn’t missing.
It was just… too long.
Workers had to torque it slightly harder to fit.
Not enough to notice.
Just enough to strain the axle over thousands of repetitions.
Ford ordered a simple fix:
“Shorten the bolt.”
Within days, defects dropped dramatically.
Within weeks, the problem disappeared.
Within months, Ford saved the modern equivalent of tens of millions of dollars.
All from one bolt no one else thought to question.
In business, your biggest losses rarely come from massive mistakes.
They come from tiny inefficiencies you stopped noticing.
Ford understood something revolutionary:
Small flaws become big expenses when multiplied.
That’s why great companies obsess over:
No comments:
Post a Comment