What’s interesting about this is how poor the fan would have been on it’s own. Let’s say you set it up on day 1, now on day 200 you notice it’s off, and suddenly you have no idea how many empty boxes you just shipped.

However, as part of a redundant system it seems like a great idea.

Or, you know, put 2 fans on the line rather than 1.

You could pay someone for years and year just to watch and make sure the fan stays on... for less than the price of the consultant they paid. If that person can also do other things, even better.

"You don’t have to be an engineer to appreciate this story.". Actually It's a lot easier to enjoy the story if you aren't an engineer. The use of compressed air is so bog standard on production lines it would be the first solution proposed before a meeting was even scheduled.

That's why it's a great "just so" along the lines of how the leopard got his spots.

"And that, oh best-beloved, is how we came to use compressed air to sort by density on production lines..."