The "Hardship" and "Relaxation" in Formal Review
The one-week-long review has finally come to an end. To be precise, this so - called review is more like a procedural show following a pre - written script:I. In the first three days, each department conducted a document review. They simply copied the production specifications from three months ago and got the leaders to sign Reviewed.II. The middle two days were for on - site simulated inspections. They neatly re - pasted the signs on the production line, polished the long - idle testing equipment until it shone, and even told the operators in advance what to answer to specific questions.III. The last day was a summarizing meeting. All they did was read out the pre - written rectification report and emphasize continuous improvement.Throughout the whole process, no actual problems were solved. For example, the capacity bottleneck in the mold workshop and the unstable quality of suppliers, which are the real pain points affecting production, were not even mentioned by the review team. Everyone heaved a sigh of relief after getting through it: Finally, we don't have to do such superficial work anymore
Arrival of orders: The impact from "virtual" to "real"
On the second day after the review ended, the news from the sales department was like a stone thrown into a calm pond—the customer order that had been pursued for three months was finally confirmed. When the contract stamped with the customer's red seal was slapped on the conference room table, the colleagues who had been complaining about the review fell silent: six projects corresponded to six sets of injection molds. The customer wanted the first - batch samples of new products for the market promotion event at the end of next month. This was not the so - called "intention - based negotiation" but a real production task. Each set of molds had to correspond to specific parts, each part had to meet the customer's dimensional requirements, and every step had to be "for real". Just as everyone was getting excited about "doing real work", they were quickly brought back to reality by the time limit on the contract: there were only 18 days from the order issuance to the sample delivery.
18 days: The "impossible mission" against the stopwatch
How short is 18 days? Under normal circumstances, it takes at least 25 days for an injection mold of medium complexity to go from design and drawing to a qualified test mold - 3 days for design, 2 days for material preparation, 10 days for processing, 5 days for test molding and modification, and with the time for transportation and communication, it takes nearly a month for one set. Now, six sets need to be made and they have to be outsourced to suppliers. This means that every step has to be "timed to the second":
- The Design Department must complete the 3D drawings of VI sets of molds within 24 hours without any errors even in the detailed markings – because the supplier will immediately prepare materials upon receiving the drawings.
- The purchasing department must contact three core suppliers within 1 hour to confirm that they have sufficient steel inventory and processing capacity for two - shift operation.
- The processing steps of the supplier must operate continuously: steel cutting should be done overnight, CNC machining should be carried out in two shifts, and heat treatment cannot be delayed – because the mold trial can only be arranged on the 17th day. Once the mold trial fails, there will be no time for modification.
- The Quality Department needs to get involved in advance: Instead of waiting for the samples to come out and then conducting inspections, it should hold daily video conferences with suppliers to monitor the dimensions, surface finish during processing, and even the hardness of the steel. Because of the requirement of "one-time success", there is no room for the slightest deviation.
The boss's "results-based theory": There is no room for trial and error
On the day of the mobilization meeting, the boss directly slapped the table and said, "I don't care how you coordinate with the suppliers, and I don't care how many extra hours you work. You must present qualified samples in 18 days." His reason was straightforward: The customer's market promotion event would be held in 20 days, and the new products must be delivered to the terminal stores before the promotion event. If it was one day late, the customer's product distribution schedule would be disrupted, and this order would be lost. More importantly, this customer was a leading enterprise in the industry. If this order was lost, there would be no hope for the subsequent annual large - scale orders.
He specifically emphasized "success on the first try": "It's not 'try our best', but'must'. It takes three days to modify the mold after a test run, and we can't afford that. You need to make it clear to the suppliers: either get it right on the first try, or compensate us for our losses – because the customers won't wait for us to 'test and correct mistakes'."
This sentence weighed on everyone's mind like a stone: It's not about "fulfilling the task," but "must do it"; it's not about "doing one's best," but "having no way back."
From Meeting Requirements in a Perfunctory Manner to Rushing against Time: The Team's Emergency Mobilization
The next morning, the atmosphere in the company completely changed:
- The lights in the Design Department were on all night. The designers were holding their computers and poring over the blueprints. Even the coffee they were drinking had gone cold.
- Colleagues from the purchasing department directly lived next to the supplier's factory and updated the company on the progress every hour: "The steel has arrived." "CNC machining has started." "The heat treatment is completed."
- The Quality Department created a mind map of the inspection standards for six sets of molds and posted it at each person's workstation. Even the "gate size deviation of 0.01mm" was marked in red.
- No more going through procedures for cross - departmental communication: The design department directly sends voice messages to suppliers to modify drawings. The procurement department directly creates a group chat and @ the quality department to confirm standards. The production department moves the raw materials for trial molding to the workshop entrance in advance - everyone is "grabbing time": grabbing the processing capacity of suppliers, grabbing the accuracy of design, and grabbing the stability of quality.
No one complains about working overtime because everyone knows that this is not "work"; it's about "grabbing orders". It's not "fulfilling the KPIs"; it's about "seizing the company's living space".
This "18-day war" is essentially a "game of time" - a game against the customer's market window, a game against the supplier's production capacity, and a game against one's own efficiency. And all these games ultimately point to one goal: to achieve the required results within the limited time.