Operations celebrates meeting production quotas. Engineering celebrates optimized KPIs. Both are technically right, but functionally at odds. This cartoon exposes a core conflict in plant culture: differing definitions of success. When metrics aren’t aligned, teams work against each other, not with each other.
True progress occurs when uptime, quality, throughput, and reliability are measured in shared terms that drive holistic performance, rather than isolated victories. If your team’s winning the wrong game, it’s time to redefine the scoreboard.
