Perhaps the decorative covering thing was an obvious case of overkill, making it sort of easier for the Management to decide;
Many a time, in my experience, the improvement proposals do not have enough backing with Breakeven analysis data;
Quality professionals (by and large I think) don't have "Financial Sense" to sell the proposal;
Some time back, I was desperate to develop my own Financial Sense and I stumbled upon this book - "How to talk Finance by Ted Wainman";
I read it and re-read it; It has a compelling stuff for Engineers like me;