I worked with a little company that manufactured a medical device used during root canal therapy. While the gizmo does not briefen or lessen the anguish, punishment and torment endured by the root canal sufferer, it does make that experience more meaningful by doing a much better job than the formerly employed heated plunger and brute muscle power of the endodontist. Most important, this vast improvement in therapy also places an income stream where it will do society the most good - in my pocket. The problem lies in assembling the thing to sell it.
I am not an engineer, and I have always been mightily impressed when I look into a car engine or a photocopier and see all those hundreds of parts fabricated by so many different manufacturers, all fitting and working together. We did not need hundreds of complicated parts, we needed a little flat steel plate with three holes punched through it. Having rejected six hundred little flat steel plates with three holes punched through them, I will never buy a car or a photocopier manufactured in America.
First, the blueprints called for cleaned parts. We assumed that this meant cleaned parts. How innocent we were! The plates arrived covered with a sort of universal gooey deposit. We called the machinist:
"These parts are covered with gunk. They are out of spec and will be rejected."
"Aw shucks, that is just soap to keep them from rusting."
"The specs are for 304 stainless steel. Does your 304 SS rust?"
Second, the blueprints called for flat-surfaced parts. Two of these plates will be rubbing against each other when the device is used in the patient's mouth. The stuff we got looked like a an acne victim's skin. We called the machinist:
"These parts have rough surfaces. They are out of spec and will be rejected."
"Aw shucks, we rough tumbled them. We could fine tumble them if you want."
Third, the blueprints called for round holes punched 0.065 +/- 0.001 inches in diameter. What we got was unrelated to round and only 0.062 inches in diameter at the widest gap. Shafts 0.063 inches in diameter do not go through 0.062 holes. We called the machinist:
"The holes are too small and aren't even round. They are out of spec and will be rejected."
"Aw shucks, our punch is a little chipped. We could drill out the holes just like the prints say."
Fourth, another machine shop quoted us $0.53/part while this collection of idiots and buffoons was charging us $4.32/part. We called the machinist:
"The parts are out of specification on three counts. The payment check has been canceled and we are shipping back the parts as unusable and in violation of FDA-mandated good manufacturing practices."
"Aw shucks, we've gotten around the Feds before."
If you are sitting in your dentist's chair and he says root canal, you are in for a rough ride. About halfway through the procedure, after he has made the hole long, deep, and wide and is preparing to fill it up with something better than it had from Mother Nature, look over to the box holding our device. If it is a blue box the parts are made of cleaned, polished, and properly punched 304 stainless steel, and everything will be all right. Our boxes are blue...
...If our device comes out of a red box, it was manufactured by the company from which we bought the product line. The parts are made of soapy, rough, and redrilled steel that has a tendency to rust. Not to worry, they got around the Feds. As your dentist works on you, painfully mucking around in that inch deep hole in your jaw to save your tooth, he probably will not say anything worse than
"Aw shucks."