Page 177 - merged.pdf

Ten Greatest Ideas that
Do Not Fit a Pattern

Idea 90 – Membership of a broad church

If you join any one club, you commonly gain the benefits of their associate
relationships with other clubs. Clubman’s Club gave associate membership of a
multitude of clubs all around the world. At a time when people were travelling more
and more for business it was a huge success and the inventors made a lot of money.

Idea 91 – Use someone else’s storage space (Toyota)

Toyota were very short of inventory space at one of their plants. The site was so
restricted that they did not have room to extend the warehouse. So, they invented
and sold to their suppliers the concept of Just in Time. This meant that the
components arrived from suppliers just before they were needed in the assembly
area. This considerably reduced Toyota’s need for storage space.

The idea caught on and manufacturers forced their suppliers to revamp their
distribution and computer systems in order to comply with the strict rules of delivery.
There were many examples of suppliers struggling to comply, and having to put in
makeshift, and sometimes expensive, solutions to their customers’ demands. So
scared were the suppliers of failing, that solutions included having the next batch for