Final answer:
John Jones likely observed symptoms such as idle equipment, excess inventory, and high customer returns, which made him believe his plant suffered from the waste of overproduction.
Step-by-step explanation:
John Jones as a plant manager, may believe his plant is guilty of waste of overproduction if he observes certain key symptoms. These could include:
- Idle equipment: This suggests that there is more production capacity than is needed to meet demand.
- Excess inventory: A backlog of products indicates that production exceeds what is being sold or used, leading to storage costs and potential spoilage or obsolescence.
- High customer returns of products: This could be due to quality issues resulting from rushing to meet overproduction, which in turn may not match customer needs or standards.
If John Jones observes any of these symptoms, it could justify his belief that his plant is producing more than is needed, which is wasteful in terms of resources, storage, and potentially sacrificing quality.