Play time is over!

[Timothy]

Magoo,

I tried the management side of manufacturing and couldn't stomach the incessant ass kissing, politics and being forced to lay people off because the boss wanted a bigger boat.  The money was good but not worth the heartache!  Six or seven years ago, I walked away from that nightmare and have pledged to never supervise people again.  I'd rather eat a fresh turd on a hot day then tell good men and women the company is doing extremely well, there's just nothing to spread around to the folks doing all the work...

YMMV...good luck!  

Remember you can lead an engineer to water, he may not drink, but if he tries, you can hold him under until the bubbles stop..

 

[Solus]

An optimist says a glass filled half way is half full, while a pessimist says it is half empty and an engineer says it is twice as big as it needs to be.

[alfsauve]

An optimist says a glass filled half way is half full, while a pessimist says it is half empty and an engineer says it is twice as big as it needs to be.

And before marketing can spin it, they have to know whether you are drinking or pouring.

[Timothy]

After two days of trying to glean information from the newer guys I finally stepped knee deep into a project today!  I spent two or three hours on the shop floor discussing the project with the lead mechanic so we were both on the same page.  I prefer to get their input before I begin because I don't like redoing the methods and materials bill after the project is released.  We both agreed to a plan, I started and finished the CAD work and began the ERP methods by late afternoon.  I'll finish it in the am, at least to the point that I can get it reviewed by the mechanic.  In all that time, the other four guys in the department never got off their fat asses longer than it took to get a cup of joe!

I got the feeling the mechanics are glad to have me back!  No one's been talking to them lately.  The engineers just blindly work the projects without input from the people doing the work!

[Solus]

You are doing good, Tim.

I went to college for a Systems Analysis degree....might be called and Efficiency Expert....with the emphasis on computer based systems.  One of the 'rules' the drilled into us was to talk to the guy doing the job....all of the jobs involved.

One of the examples was for a dairy company that delivered milk to the doorstep.  The class was in 1970 and that was rarely done any more then, but it was a good example. 

The system required the driver to mark a sheet with the number of each item delivered to an address.  The point was that these deliveries are done at 2am and if we don't ride in the truck, we don't know what conditions we are asking someone to record numbers in tiny blocks on a form.  Is there a light in the cab?  Is there a place to put a clip board?  Is there anything else going on that would make the job a PITA? 

When  we did a project, we had to interview the instructor, telling him who he was for the interview and asking questions.  Our grade depended upon how well we integrated the needs and concerns of everyone for the project along with how well the system gathered the information needed. 

What might take me an extra hour or two to get it right all around would save everyone who had to do the job frustration for the life of the system.

 

[Sponsor]

[Timothy]

Some of our handy work...

This is a gas turbine exhaust diffuser.  To give you a scale of the size of it, the welding curtain is about 6 ft tall.  It's mounted on a gimbal to aid in the final welding.  It's not half finished and will require machining before final assembly!

All 304L stainless steel.

[tombogan03884]

Big stuff.  Horizontal mill I assume ?

[Timothy]

Big stuff.  Horizontal mill I assume ?

I'd guess.  We subcontract the heavy stuff.  We still don't have much for machining other than a few knee mills, a couple of Prototrak and the Haas.  They moved most of that to another building since I left.  Coincidentally, they rented the building my last employer owned back in '06.

[Magoo541]

Last thing you want to hear when someone is machining that is "DAMMIT!"  Its funny how few mistakes are made when the going gets tough, its almost always the simple stuff that bites you.

Big stuff, I'll have to post some pics of the line we're building.

[Timothy]

I was putzing around the shop this afternoon and was paged to the conference room.  When I got there, the two guys I started the department with were waiting..  Ones the Plant Mgr and the other the Eng. Mgr...

They dropped the largest assembly we build in my lap and said "It's your baby, run with it!"

Into the fire....each copy is nearly 12 tons assembled, we have to ship them in two pieces because they're too tall for the lowboy and too heavy for our biggest crane!  They run between $600K-$800K each....

 

Let the fun begin...