James McNerney, a former boss of 3M, a manufacturer, damaged the company's innovation engine by trying to apply six-sigma principles (which are intended to reduce errors on production lines) to the entire company, including the research laboratories.
When the next-generation communications system comes online, the question is whether the cruise lines will reduce their communications costs to passengers because of the changes in technology or whether they will leave costs as they are but offer a greatly enhanced experience for system users.