What?!  Yeah, okay, maybe it’s a stretch.  But bear with me.  Maybe I was desperately searching for a way to include this cool video, but if nothing else, you’ll get to see a really cool video.

wingsuit base jumping from Ali on Vimeo.

In lean manufacturing, people talk about "lowering the water level" by minimizing inventory.  This exposes the "rocks" of waste that exist on the shop floor.  You know who they are.  There are seven, right?  Oh wait, is it eight now?  Is it TOM D WIP or WORM PITT, TIMWOOD, or DOTWIMP?  I think And when your ship "S.S. Operations" starts encountering those rocks, it hurts!

But it’s all about risk/reward.  So you lower your inventory levels.  It may feel like greater risk because you’ll expose quality problems, excessive transportation, rework labor.  But the rewards can be so much greater.  Increase profitability.  Increase customer satisfaction.  Take market share.

The wingsuit base jumpers could ride safely away from the shear cliffs.  But where’s the reward in that?  They have chosen to decrease the space between them and problems, and have increased the reward of having a significantly better experience.

Not the best analogy?  Okay.  Whatever.  Enjoy the video.