It happened last October when I had my training in Saitama, Japan (which is a really nice place to live in). We visited many Japanese companies. One of companies we visited was Yoshino Denka Kogyo, Inc.
Part of the training in the company was playing a game called The Lego Game. We were divided into three groups, including the government staffs who accompanied us during the whole trip (because the training was organized by the Saitama Prefectural Government). Each group was given a set of legos, oblivious of what to do. Then, the president of the company announced the mechanics of the game:
- Every group is given a set of legos.
- Every group is a "manufacturing company" which intends to satisfy the demands of the customers.
- The legos are to be used as materials to build what the customer wants.
- Customer's demands may change from time to time. The group must be able to meet the demand of the customer as much as possible.
- Each demand has it's weighted points, so, the more demands met, the more points the group have.
Then, the game began. The demands of the customer came one at a time.
1st demand: My family wants a robot.
2nd demand: The robot must have big wing.
3rd demand: The wing must be movable.
4th demand: The robot must have two legs.
5th demand: The daughter likes pink.
6th demand: The robot must have cute face.
7th demand: The robot must be colorful.
8th demand: It must have a long nose.
9th demand: It must compose of 250 legos.
10th demand: It must have two faces.
11th demand:It must have 3 colors only.
12th demand: The robot's legs must have wheels.
13th demand: The robot must have a cute name.
14th demand: The robot must have a base.
15th demand: The son likes color blue.
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.
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The customer sure is demanding, right? But with every new demand, our group alters the robot according to the customer's desires. Our group was able to meet most of the demands, except for the two: the 5th demand and the 9th demand.
After almost two hours of working with the robot, every group was evaluated by the company's officials. Thankfully, our group received a good compliment from the officials, as well as the other groups.
Then the president of the company spoke up. He said (in Nihonggo)...
"Thank you so much for your enthusiasm to achieve the goal of the game. I am happy to see you enjoying. It is fascinating to see different designs of robots from each group. You surely worked hard to meet the desires of the customer. This scenario the you are in now is the same scenario the actual manufacturing companies are experiencing. Because of the new trends, the customers in real scenario change their demands most of the time. Despite of those, the company must meet those desires. The company has the right to accept the demand or reject it. Because some demands are contrary to each other. But the company must always think what is best for the customer", he said.
"Here's the trick", he added. "Each group is given the same sets of legos, equal number of legos, same forms of legos, and same colors of legos. But look at your robots, not one robot looks the same as the other. This is the power of your imagination. Your imagination can take you everywhere. It makes you unique. But your imagination stay an illusion if you stay idle. You must have the initiative and courage to take that imagination into action."
The End.
