The story goes that a complex machine has stopped working shutting an entire assembly line down. Every hour that goes by the company is losing thousands of dollars. After many hours of trying to get the machine working again, the plant manager calls in an outside expert (consultant/engineer) to assess the situation (I've heard this story ascribed to lots of people, including Henry Ford...anyway...) So the expert comes in, walks around the machine, looks at the dials and screens, and finally asks to borrow a hammer. With one swift and decisive tap of the hammer the machine fires right up. Relieved, the plant manager thanks the expert profusely and asks the expert to send the invoice right away. When it arrives there is a single line item charge of $1,000. The manager immediately calls up the expert and demands to know why hitting the machine should be worth $1000?! The expert acknowledges the concern and agrees to revise the invoice. The new invoice arrives with two line items: Hitting machine with hammer: $10. Knowing where to hit the machine: $990.
One of our mantra's is that the cheapest solution is rarely the least expensive solution.
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