![civ v terracotta army civ v terracotta army](https://www.carlsguides.com/strategy/civilization5/gamepictures/worldwonders/terracottaarmy.gif)
Though the Qin Dynasty fell after only 14 years, its ideas of standardization live on. To this day, the Chinese are known for their mass production skills. Templates not only provide shortcuts they also ensure consistent work output. Large companies adopt this on their production lines as well as in their back-office. They have figured out that having a combination of standardization and customization is a way to help them achieve scale while remaining financially solvent. Process templates can come in multiple formats including a standard operating procedure and flowchart based on preferred learning styles. They are easy to understand and customize and they eliminate hours of guesswork (which can lead to costly errors).Ī good process template also has detailed instructions for customization. Imagine building your own “Terracotta Army” - scaling your operational capacity and standardizing your training efforts with documented processes. Small businesses are often shut out from the operational resources that manufacturing and big companies benefit from. Founders, entrepreneurs, and small business owners alike usually cannot afford to hire high-dollar consultants to assist in their process design, documentation, and improvement efforts. That’s where process templates can help.
#CIV V TERRACOTTA ARMY MANUAL#
To pull off a project of this magnitude required serious manual labor. It’s estimated that up to 720,000 laborers constructed the Terracotta Army. Quality control was paramount. In fact, each worker had to etch his name onto his work. There were no warnings for shoddy work. Incompetence was a crime, sometimes punishable by death!īy leveraging the design templates, the workers were able to mass-produce the army in an assembly-line fashion. They clearly had processes to ensure this operation worked like a finely-tuned machine. Lesson #2: Templates Standardize Your Work
![civ v terracotta army civ v terracotta army](https://cdns.kinguin.net/cdn-cgi/image/w=1140,q=80,fit=scale-down,f=auto/media/category//s/s/ss_81d8a34e2e71b018a4110c91070d69e237e91b8f.1920x1080-1024.jpg)
![civ v terracotta army civ v terracotta army](http://www.dos486.com/civ5/bnw3/1ad.jpg)
Yet, the templates were only part of their scale equation. The real awe, in my opinion, is the level of customization applied. There are no two identical soldiers - each has a unique set of facial features, hairstyles, and uniforms. Templates made it possible to have this level of customization and still complete the emperor’s mausoleum complex in less than two generations. The Terracotta Army was constructed using a combination of standardization and customization. They used templates in the form of tools and clay molds to create standard features such as weaponry and body parts. These templates served as design shortcuts, minimizing the time wasted in starting from scratch with each element. In his quest for immortality, Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China, commissioned the construction of the Terracotta Army as non-human guardians to usher him into the afterlife. It consists of (at present count) over 8,000 soldiers, horses, and chariots, all made of terracotta, standing in formation to protect the emperor’s gravesite.Ĭonsidering the scale of this effort and the technology available at that time, it only took 40 years to complete.Īssembly lines.