guy. Running into someone you know in the middle of one of the busiest airports in the world carries a shock with it. At first, I'm not sure it's really him. But he looks too much like the physicist I used to know for him to be anyone but Jonah. As I start to sit down, he glances up at me from his book, and I see on his face the same unspoken question: Do I know you?
"Jonah?" I ask him.
"Yes?"
"I'm Alex Rogo. Remember me?"
His face tells me that he doesn't quite.
"I knew you some time ago," I tell him. "I was a student. I got a grant to go and study some of the mathematical models you were working on. Remember? I had a beard back then."
A small flash of recognition finally hits him. "Of course! Yes, I do remember you. 'Alex,' was it?"
"Right."
A waitress asks me if I'd like something to drink. I order a scotch and soda and ask Jonah if he'll join me. He decides he'd better not; he has to leave shortly.
"So how are you these days?" I ask.
"Busy," he says. "Very busy. And you?"
"Same here. I'm on my way to Houston right now," I say. "What about you?"
"New York," says Jonah.
He seems a little bored with this line of chit-chat and looks as if he'd like to finish the conversation. A second of quiet falls be- tween us. But, for better or worse, I have this tendency (which I've never been able to bring under control) of filling silence in a conversation with my own voice.
"Funny, but after all those plans I had back then of going into research, I ended up in business," I say. "I'm a plant man- ager now for UniCo."
Jonah nods. He seems more interested. He takes a puff on his cigar. I keep talking. It doesn't take much to keep me going.
"In fact, that's why I'm on my way to Houston. We belong to a manufacturers' association, and the association invited UniCo to be on a panel to talk about robotics at the annual conference. I got picked by UniCo, because my plant has the most experience with robots."
"I see," says Jonah. "Is this going to be a technical discus- sion?"
"More business oriented than technical," I say. Then I re- member I have something I can show him. "Wait a second..."
I crack open my briefcase on my lap and pull out the ad- vance copy of the program the association sent me.
"Here we are," I say, and read the listing to him. " 'Robotics: Solution to America's Productivity Crisis in the new millenium... a panel of users and experts discusses the coming impact of indus- trial robots on American manufacturing.' '
But when I look back to him, Jonah doesn't seem very im- pressed. I figure, well, he's an academic person; he's not going to understand the business world.
"You say your plant uses robots?" he asks.
"In a couple of departments, yes," I say.
"Have they really increased productivity at your plant?"
"Sure they have," I say. "We had-what?" I scan the ceiling for the figure. "I think it was a thirty-six percent improvement in one area."
"Really... thirty-six percent?" asks Jonah. "So your com- pany is making thirty-six percent more money from your plant just from installing some robots? Incredible."
I can't hold back a smile.
"Well... no," I say. "We all wish it were that easy! But it's a lot more complicated than that. See, it was just in one depart- ment that we had a thirty-six percent improvement."
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Jonah looks at his cigar, then extinguishes it in the ashtray.
"Then you didn't really increase productivity," he says.
I feel my smile freeze.
"I'm not sure I understand," I say.
Jonah leans forward conspiratorially and says, "Let me ask you something-just between us: Was your plant able to ship even one more product per day as a result of what happened in the department where you installed the robots?"
I mumble, "Well, I'd have to check the numbers..."
"Did you fire anybody?" he asks.
I lean back, looking at him. What the hell does he mean by that?
"You mean did we lay anybody off? Because we installed the robots?" I say. "No, we have an understanding with our union that nobody will be laid off because of productivity improvement. We shifted the people to other jobs. Of course, when there's a business downturn, we lay people off."
"But the robots themselves didn't reduce your plant's people expense," he says.
"No," I admit.
"Then, tell me, did your inventories go down?" asks Jonah.
I chuckle.
"Hey, Jonah, what is this?" I say to him.
"Just tell me," he says. "Did inventories go down?"
"Offhand, I have to say I don't think so. But I'd really have to check the numbers."
"Check your numbers if you'd like," says Jonah. "But if your inventories haven't gone down... and your employee expense was not reduced... and if your company isn't selling more products-which obviously it can't, if you're not shipping more of them-then you can't tell me these robots increased your plant's productivity."
In the pit of my stomach, I'm getting this feeling like you'd probably have if you were in an elevator and the cable snapped.
"Yeah, I see what you're saying, in a way," I tell him. "But my efficiencies went up, my costs went down-"
"Did they?" asks Jonah. He closes his book.
"Sure they did. In fact, those efficiencies are averaging well above ninety percent. And my cost per part went down consider- ably. Let me tell you, to stay competitive these days, we've got to do everything we can to be more efficient and reduce costs."
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My drink arrives; the waitress puts it on the table beside me. I hand her a ten and wait for her to give me the change.
"With such high efficiencies, you must be running your ro- bots constantly," says Jonah.
"Absolutely," I tell him. "We have to. Otherwise, we'd lose our savings on our cost per part. And efficiencies would go down. That applies not only to the robots, but to our other production resources as well. We have to keep producing to stay efficient and maintain our cost advantage."
"Really?" he says.
"Sure. Of course, that's not to say we don't have our prob- lems."
"I see," says Jonah. Then he smiles. "Come on! Be honest. Your inventories are going through the roof, are they not?"
I look at him. How does he know?
"If you mean our work-in-process-"
"All of your inventories," he says.
"Well, it depends. Some places, yes, they are high," I say.
"And everything is always late?" asks Jonah. "You can't ship anything on time?"
"One thing I'll admit," I tell him, "is that we have a heck of a problem meeting shipping dates. It's a serious issue with custom- ers lately."
Jonah nods, as if he had predicted it.
"Wait a minute here... how come you know about these things?" I ask him.
He smiles again.
"Just a hunch," says Jonah. "Besides, I see those symptoms in a lot of the manufacturing plants. You're not alone."
I say, "But aren't you a physicist?"
"I'm a scientist," he says. "And right now you could say I'm doing work in the science of organizations-manufacturing orga- nizations in particular."
"Didn't know there was such a science."
"There is now," he says.
"Whatever it is you're into, you put your finger on a couple of my biggest problems, I have to give you that," I tell him. "How come-"
I stop because Jonah is exclaiming something in Hebrew. He's reached into a pocket of his trousers to take out an old watch.
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"Sorry, Alex, but I see I'm going to miss my plane if I don't hurry," he says.