WW:
know the feeling. You are right about the nicks and nudges building up of course. It appears to be one of the main areas where the gaps are starting to show. Outsource the ramp work, cut back on saftey training, speed up the turn rounds, hire staff that are cheaper and Bingo!
From my field, (slightly off topic) here is an example of a purchasing manager taking two decions that saved money - on paper. These are from first hand experience when working in the brand new building built as HQ for a well known high street group.
1) On each floor, telecomms / IT cabinets needed for local service, feeding into the fibre back-bone down to the main server rooms. Purchasing manager decided not to enclose them in simple rooms to save money. Consequently, the people that sat near the cabinets had to put up with noise cooling fans every second of their day. These parts of the floors became lower productivity areas and they had to move photocopiers and filing to them as folks did not want to sit there. Waste of prime space that they have just paid for.
2) Same man rejects the telecomms departments choice of cabinets (You know the kind of thing - those big racks with plexiglass fronts and tons of winking led's in side). He chose ones that were cheaper. Cheaper because he found out that only occasionally did we need to access the rear of the cabinet. So he bought cabs that had a front DOOR but a rear PANEL. To remove, you needed a hex nut driver and to get six bolts out and back. Not every day but often and when needed - in a hurry.
So, he saved money on his budget and proved what a super guy he was to the company ... and reduced the effective working space on every floor and made us curse him every week.
That is what it takes to be a 'manager' these days.
