Case

The Case of the Missing Time

At approximately 7:30 A.M. on Tuesday, June 23, 1959, Chet Craig, manager of the Norris

Company’s Central Plant, swung his car out of the driveway of his suburban home and headed toward the plant located some six miles away, just inside the Midvale city limits.

It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining brightly and a cool, fresh breeze was blowing.

The trip to the plant took about 20 minutes and sometimes gave Chet an opportunity to think about plant problems without interruption.

The Norris Company owned and operated three printing plants. Norris enjoyed a nationwide commercial business, specializing in quality color work. It was a closely held company with some 350 employees, nearly half of whom were employed at the

Central Plant, the largest of the three Norris production operations. The company’s main offices were also located in the Central Plant building.

Chet had started with the Norris Company as an expediter in its Eastern Plant in

1948, just after he graduated from Ohio State. After three years Chet was promoted to production supervisor, and two years later he was made assistant to the manager of the Eastern Plant. Early in 1957 he was transferred to the Central Plant as assistant to the plant manager and one month later was promoted to plant manager when the former manager retired (see Figure 2.7).

Chet was in fine spirits as he relaxed behind the wheel. As his car picked up speed, the hum of the tires on the newly paved highway faded into the background.

Various thoughts occurred to him, and he said to himself, “This is going to be the day to really get things done.”

He began to run through the day’s work, first one project, then another, trying to establish priorities. After a few minutes he decided that the open-end unit scheduling was probably the most important, certainly the most urgent. He frowned for a moment as he recalled that on Friday the vice president and general manager had casually asked him if he...