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New manager requires hand-written approval of every repairs request, causing massive delays in repair jobs, CEO steps in to reprimand management

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  • You want a physical signature for every single requisition? Hope you brought a comfortable chair.

    Hey, myself Ethan and I work as a lead technician for a specialized industrial firm where we handle heavy machinery repairs. Now, because parts are expensive and often custom ordered, our old system was simple. I'd email my manager, "hey, we need a $4,000 hydraulic seal," he'd reply "approved," and I'd order it.
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  • A technician speaks to his manager, who holds a laptop in his hands.
  • A technician wears a yellow hard hat while operating machinery.
  • Quick, efficient, and everyone was happy. Enters Kevin. Kevin is a new efficiency consultant turned director of operations. Kevin thinks email is for lazy people and decided that to curb unauthorized spending, every
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  • single requisition regardless of cost, now requires a physical, ink on paper signature on a specific form 402, hand delivered to his office. I told Kevin this was a bad idea because we are a high volume shop. On a busy Monday,
  • I might order 40 different items ranging from $5 bolts to $10,000 engines. Kevin's response: If it's not signed by me in person, the company isn't paying for it. No
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  • exceptions, I don't care if it's a nickel or a grand, I want to see every request that crosses your desk.
  • I realized Kevin didn't quite grasp what every request meant. I usually batch my orders or handle the small stuff (washers, I ricants, safety goggles)
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  • through a general shop fund, but not anymore. Monday morning comes, instead of batching my needs into one list, I treated every single individual component as a separate requisition.
  • A technician presses a button on a machine while doing repairs.
  • • Need 10 specific bolts? That's one form. • Need a bottle of degreaser? That's a form. • Need a replacement lightbulb for the breakroom? Form.
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  • By 10am, I had a stack of 64 individual forms. I walked into Kevin's office, he was on a conference call. I waited and when he hung up, I laid the stack down.
  • Kevin: what is this? Me: the requisitions for the morning. You said you wanted to see every request, I need these signed so I can get the shop running.
  • It took him 20 minutes to sign them all because he insisted on reading each one. By the time he finished, I was back with 15 more.
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  • By tuesday, he was visibly annoyed and by wednesday, the fallout began.
  • Because I was spending half my day walking back and forth to his office and waiting for him to finish meetings to get signatures, the actual repair work slowed to a crawl. Three major clients called to ask why their machines weren't ready. The breaking point
  • was the emergency overnight, a local plant had a massive failure and we needed a $12 O-ring to fix a $200,000 pump. It was around 4:45pm, Kevin had already headed out for a networking dinner. Now, under the old rules, I'd just buy it and get reimbursed but under Kevin's no exceptions rule, I couldn't. I
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  • told the client, I'm sorry, I don't have authorization to purchase the part until it's physically signed off by the director.
  • The client was furious, they called the CEO. The CEO called Kevin at his dinner. Kevin told the CEO he'd handle it in the morning. The CEO told Kevin to get his behind back to the office
  • now. Kevin had to drive 45 minutes back to the office, in his suit, just to sign a single piece of paper for a $12 part.
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  • The next morning, a company wide memo went out. "Digital approvals via email are reinstated for all items under $5,000."
  • Kevin doesn't look at me anymore when I walk past his office. I still make sure to bring him a physical form for anything over $5,001,
  • and I always make sure to wait until he's right in the middle of a very important lunch. After all, he wanted to see every request.

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