TO REMAIN COMPETITIVE, Lowe’s has been forced to cut employee hours to the minimum. Yet, with its limited staffing, significant blocks of hours must be committed to the assembly of barbecue grills, in advance of the coming holiday. In the past, a customer would be willing to wait a day to have Lowe’s do the assembly, in exchange for a nominal fee; but not on this holiday weekend. They will want it immediately, or not at all. This means staff must be pulled from regular assignments, even on overtime hours if necessary.
Working in the assembly area, it dawned on me that Lowe’s could gain a competitive advantage by manufacturing artificial life. That is, if the force of life were understood well enough that it could be injected into disassembled grills, with instructions on how to “grow”, they could assemble themselves, and then “die.”
Hm.
Thwarticus 