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This is my favorite passage from Titan: With a talent for seeing things anew, Rockefeller could study an operation, break it down into component parts, and dev
by Uhhrrr 10y ago
This is my favorite passage from Titan:
With a talent for seeing things anew, Rockefeller could study an operation, break it down into component parts, and devise ways to improve it. In many ways, he anticipated the efficiency studies of engineer Frederick Winslow Taylor. Regarding each plant as infinitely perfectible, he created an atmosphere of ceaseless improvement. Paradoxically, the mammoth scale of operations encouraged close attention to minute detail, for a penny saved in one place might then be multiplied a thousandfold throughout the empire. In the early 1870s, Rockefeller inspected a Standard plant in New York City that filled and sealed five-gallon tin cans of kerosene for export. After watching a machine solder caps to the cans, he asked the resident expert: “How many drops of solder do you use on each can?” “Forty,” the man replied. “Have you ever tried thirty-eight?” Rockefeller asked. “No? Would you mind having some sealed with thirty-eight and let me know?”34 When thirty-eight drops were applied, a small percentage of cans leaked—but none at thirty-nine. Hence, thirty-nine drops of solder became the new standard instituted at all Standard Oil refineries. “That one drop of solder,” said Rockefeller, still smiling in retirement, “saved $2,500 the first year; but the export business kept on increasing after that and doubled, quadrupled—became immensely greater than it was then; and the saving has gone steadily along, one drop on each can, and has amounted since to many hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
Rockefeller performed many similar feats, fractionally reducing the length of staves or the width of iron hoops without weakening a barrel’s strength[...]
- HiroshiSan 10y agoSounds like Hank Rearden.
- iamgopal 10y agoknowing your business in and out was the only way to success, back in those day. right now, you just google it.
- hackuser 10y agoInteresting story; thanks. I have a few reactions to it: First, it seems like a marketing photo-op for the CEO. In your opinion, is the author trying to make Rockefeller relatable? You can see how it works with HN readers. These days his success is attributed to business acumen and notorious practices, not engineering, but I haven't read much about him. What impression does the book give? Also, I would argue that the time he spent on solder drops was a waste of company resources much more valuable than solder: his time. What would he say if he saw the machine operator similarly wasting company time or resources? Rockefeller would have helped his company much more by improving his own efficiency. Finally, in most companies when Rockefeller asks if you can reduce the number solder drops and you are the lowly solder machine operator, you reduce the solder drops no matter what. There is no way that story could have ended differently, and nobody would reveal that the boss's idea had bad consequences: The barrels had to be handled more carefully, they leaked at a higher rate, they had to increase some other sealing process to compensate, etc. All my cynicism may be unfair, however. EDIT: A bunch of edits
- dyim 10y agoI would argue that you can combine two parts of your cynicism to create something very wholesome! 1) "It seems like a marketing photo-op for the CEO." 2) "Rockefeller would have helped his company much more by improving his own efficiency." Surely the photo-op helped create a culture of efficiency and optimization throughout Standard Oil?
- hackuser 10y agoAgreed, and very well put. Who knew you could combine cynicisms like that? The mind boggles at the possibilities ...
- jjoonathan 10y agoIt was right in front of my eyes and I didn't see it. Humbling. Thanks for pointing it out. In related news, Titan just got bumped to the top of my reading list.
- zodiac 10y agoTo me the 40 drops suggests that the operator only "guessed" how many drops are enough, to the nearest multiple of 10, and left that as good enough; and rhe 38 suggestion was basically saying, "find out exactly how much is enough instead of being ok with good enough"
- paulsutter 10y agoIt's certainly a PR piece. The story may even be apocryphal. But there is a rational reason for him to take such a small action. Promoting such a story within the company spreads the word that a good way to impress the boss is to question processes and look for improvements. Especially if he asked similar questions frequently. People could start to think, what if the boss comes by, is there anything inefficient in my task that I can improve before that happens.
- hackuser 10y agoGood point. The following is something I thought of before and after I replied to the comment below, but which escaped my mind when I wrote it: It depends on how the author represents the story. If he represents it as an example of Rockefeller's leadership technique and skill, that's one thing. If the author represents it as Rockefeller's exceptional efficiency and engineering acumen, or is trying to show how relatable Rockefeller was, then the author is doing PR too.
- monk_e_boy 10y agoSounds like all my bosses squeezing pay and hours. "You are working until 5:30, could you work until 6? 6:30? 7?"
- jjoonathan 10y agoSame here, I don't see what's so laudable about marginal optimization / penny pinching. Anyone can do it and almost everyone does it, they just aren't in the position of CEO and so don't have their efforts multiplied by a factor of a million (assuming that what Rockefeller did was even optimization; I have the same doubts as hackuser). The "CEO feats" that most inspire my respect are of the exact opposite form. Jumping ship from a lucrative career to work on a default-dead startup, cannibalizing iPod sales to bet on iPhones, that kind of thing. It's not innovation if nobody thinks you're crazy for doing it.
- kqr2 10y agoAlso see the documentary The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money and Power based on the book with the same name: http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/prize-epic-quest-oil-money-power/ http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/prize-epic-quest-oil-money-po... https://smile.amazon.com/Prize-Epic-Quest-Money-Power/dp/1439110123 https://smile.amazon.com/Prize-Epic-Quest-Money-Power/dp/143...
- pekk 10y agoA hero of micromanagement!