
Apple’s Little Secret • 41
When I rst went to the main plant, I found what I nd everywhere I go—a
lot of old thoughtware. ey were taking the traditionalinward-focused top-
down, productivity-nancial perspective rather thanan outward, customer
perspective. ABC makes adhesives and sealants like caulking (glue) and it is
mainly a chemical process that mixes big vats of a variety of recipes. is is
then fed into lines to ll tubes, tubs, and pails. We started with a $20million
product process (i.e., model or demonstration line) and looked at it horizon-
tally instead of the conventional vertical view. e rst step was to change the
think