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03/27/2008: "CMI Really Does Work ... And So Does The Right Beer ..."
"Continuous Measurable Improvement" is a term you hear tossed about in the manufacturing industry. The idea is that any process, no matter how efficient, can be improved, even if only by a little. You perform the process, evaluate the results, modify the process, and reperform the process ... lather, rinse, repeat. In theory, CMI could be applied to any process ...
Last week, I documented my failed attempts to pour a Half and Half - half Guinness, half Harp - creating what I referred to as a "beige" (as opposed to Black and Tan). I hadn't given it much more thought until I received an email about the posting from an English visitor. My first thought was that it would be some British bluster about my calling the drink a Black and Tan (a British moniker) instead of the proper label Half and Half. Fortunately, I took the time to read it all the way through.
Apparently, my English friend has better eyesight than most, and pointed out that I was suffering from a fatal flaw from the outset. Yes, he said, I was pouring Guinness, but I was pouring the wrong Guinness! I was using my favorite - Guinness Extra Stout - when in fact I should have used Draught.
My initial response was to be dubious. After all, what difference could that possibly make? But, never one to miss an opportunity to tip a pint in the name of science, I was off to the liquor store. Armed with a six-pack of Harp Lager and a six of Guinness Draught - complete with those funny plastic Rocket Widget - I set about pouring. In goes the Harp, followed by a careful pouring of Guinness. Stoop down to look through the beer ...
... hot damn - it separated! I'll be a baboon's buttocks ...
Sometimes in life, you have to admit when you're wrong, and I was. Careful research after the fact showed that I indeed was pouring the wrong brew. You have to take the bad with the good, though - I think I prefer the taste of my beige to the true Half and Half I now have in my hand. But in this battle, there are no losers.
Slainte!
