Fun_People Archive
1 Dec
I was hoping this was just 4 months early...

Date: Thu,  1 Dec 94 13:41:37 PST
To: Fun_People
Subject: I was hoping this was just 4 months early...

Forwarded-by: bostic@CS.Berkeley.EDU (Keith Bostic)
Forwarded-by: guy@netapp.com (Guy Harris)
Subject: A new twist on Total Quality Management
Forwarded-by: mjacob@jupiter.Legato.COM (Matt Jacob)
[ forwards deleted ]

      Excerpt from The Wall Street Journal  -  Tuesday, September 13

              18 Chinese Managers Executed for Shoddy Quality

      BEIJING - Eighteen factory managers were executed for poor product
      quality at Chien Bien Refrigerator Factory on the outskirts of the
      Chinese capital.

      The managers - twelve men and six women - were taken to a rice paddy
      outside the factory and unceremoniously shot to death as 500 plant
      workers looked on.  Ministry of Economic Reform spokesman, Xi Ten
      Haun, said the action was required for committing unpardonable crimes
      against the people of China.

      He blamed the managers for ignoring quality and forcing shoddy work,
      saying the factory's output of refrigerators had a reputation for
      failure.  For years factory workers complained that many component
      parts did not meet specification and end product did not function as
      required.  Compressors were cracked, leaked freon and the electrical
      components were sub-standard.  Complaining workers quoted the Plant
      Manager as saying "Ship it."

      Customers, who waited up to five years for their appliances, were
      outraged, he says.

      "It is understandable our citizens would express shock and outrage
      when managers are careless in their attitudes toward the welfare of
      others."

      Refrigerators are among the most sought after consumer items in
      Communist China.

      "Managers in charge of production and engineering failed to perform
      any useful corrections to the quality problems for the last 20 years,"
      Haun said.

      "Our soldiers are justified in wishing to bring proper justice to
      these errant managers."

      The executed included the Plant Manager, the Quality Control Manager,
      the Engineering Managers and their top staff.

© 1994 Peter Langston