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Imagine this scenario: Employee A works on packaging function A; employee B oversees function B; and employee C devotes his energies to function C. Now, if a manager wants to have a meeting to direct all three areas, he’s only permitted to speak with either A or C together or B and C or A and B, but never all three at the same time.
Sounds like one of those dreaded word problems from 6th-grade math class, right? Not exactly. In effect, the above situation plays out all the time in packaging plants nationwide.
When a company doesn’t enjoy the benefits of consolidating control of multiple packaging functions, such as a scale-and-bagger system, isn’t the isolation of purpose portrayed above a sad reality?