Pure common sense is better than automation

February 11, 2025 | 12:00am

There’s an old story that compares the wisdom of American astronauts with Russian cosmonauts. It was told that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was criticized for spending millions of dollars to produce a ballpoint pen that could write in space. This was later proven to be untrue as the production of zero-gravity pen was financed by a private organization.

Just the same, there was an uproar against NASA’s preference for the expensive zero-gravity pen when the Soviets were using pencils while in space with no major issues.

This proves that common sense is a superior, universal principle better than any idea. Corollary to this is my passion for Lean and Kaizen and my invention, the Thinking People Strategy (TPS), a derivative of the Toyota Production System, except that the former is geared toward the non-manufacturing sector.

Why choose an expensive solution like the zero-gravity pen over an inexpensive pencil? Why not? The pen is mightier than the pencil because it uses pressurized ink cartridges enabling astronauts to write while in space, even over wet and greasy paper, at any angle, and in a wide range of temperatures.

In 1965, astronauts used mechanical pencils and stopped using them after realizing the substantial danger of broken pencil tips and graphite dust damaging electronics in a zero-gravity environment. That’s how NASA thought of zero-gravity ballpoint pens when it bought 400 pieces for $2.95 per piece, which were created by Austrian Friedrich Schächter, with Paul Fischer inventing a special ink called “thixotropic.”

If you want samples of zero-gravity pens, you can buy different models at a price range of $40 to $52 apiece online. Want to try it? Let me know your experience when you’re back from space.

Eliminate, don’t automate

The above story proves that common sense can defeat and survive the onslaught of automation and its enabling technologies. It came to me again when I read the LinkedIn article of Alvin Villegas, a long-time acquaintance. “Does continuous improvement still matter in the age of automation?” he asked in the article with the same title.

“Optimization is not merely anchored on automation; the human-process element will always play a critical role in any business, more so in a manufacturing environment.” However, Alvin, despite being a Six Sigma black belter endorses Lean and Kaizen.

“The simplicity of Lean and Kaizen, even in a high-tech environment, ensures value creation in the manufacturing processes.” I agree. I teach Lean, Kaizen and TPS but not Six Sigma which uses statistical tools. I prefer using simple math to decipher problems. That’s because algebra and statistics are disliked by many people.

Further, I commented that Lean, Kaizen and TPS are hinged on one basic, but often forgotten principle  – “eliminate, don’t automate.” I learned it from Masaaki Imai (1930-2023), my former boss and founder of the Kaizen Institute who told me to focus on waste elimination which should precede all other interventions. So, the actual quote should mean “eliminate all wastes, before we automate.”

If we don’t follow this advice by proceeding to automate almost blindly, surely, we’ll also automate the waste in work processes. Michael Hammer, in his 1990 article in the Harvard Business Review says “instead of embedding outdated processes in silicon and software, we should obliterate them and start (all) over.”

I’ve many local examples to prove that a common-sense solution is much better than automation. One case is the Bureau of Immigration. In 2008, the bureau, in its attempt to thwart human traffickers in coordinating with their unprincipled employees, had installed several units of electronic jammers (worth millions) within their office vicinity.

The objective was to prevent the syndicates from using their mobile phones to coordinate with one another. However, it backfired as it compromised the bureau’s online operations. So, it called off the implementation and “allowed” the syndicates to proceed with their nefarious activities until someone suggested that all employees on duty must surrender their phones at the gate.

In case of an emergency, callers were advised to call a certain official contact number.

Does the bureau still follow such a policy? That’s an interesting question.

Mathematics

Here’s another interesting question. If you’re fond of spending money in lotto, what’s the best chance of winning? The internet offers many clear and simple answers. On top of the list comes from Fairfield University math professor Nick Kapoor who says you have to buy more tickets.

Professor Kapoor enjoys the thrill of winning the Powerball lottery in Connecticut. In 2016, he bought a ticket as an experiment to show his students how difficult it is to strike it big. “Instead, he made it look easy, matching four of the five numbers plus the Powerball for a prize of $100,000,” according to a report by NBC.

Corollary to this is a Reddit joke about another mathematician who’s afraid of flying. Reddit is an American social news aggregation, content rating and forum social network. It claims that the mathematician’s fear is based on the small risk of a terrorist attack. So, on every flight, he takes a bomb in his hand luggage.

The mathematician justifies it by saying “The probability of having a bomb on a plane is very low.” Therefore, “the probability of having two bombs on the same plane is virtually zero.” This brings us to another interesting question. Can mathematicians, statisticians and people with macho belts save the world?

Rey Elbo is a quality and productivity improvement enthusiast. For a limited free consultation, email your story to [email protected] or via https://reyelbo.com