
124 THE LEAN ANTHOLOGY
Jay: So what other rational decision did you arrive at in regard to your
list of potential control variables? Gas versus electric was
tossed out, and the popping mediums evolved based some-
what on your taste. Your experiment attempted to control the
variables that optimized taste and reduced waste. What did
the toppings have to do with anything?
Bob: You can come up with an infinite number of toppings, that’s for
sure. But since one of our objectives was to make the best-
tasting popcorn based on our requirements, we decided that
taste involved a topping or flavoring. We limited the toppings
that we used in our research ...