Interesting ISA/Intech article

??? is there a link???

Whoops! Good catch phoenix911

http://www.isa.org/InTechTemplate.cfm?Section=Article_Index1&template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=64752

Please stay focused long enough ...

Did you see that ball of string that rolled through the room> I'm going to ..........

Getting my brain to slow down to "finger speed", has tripped me up more than once. I've lost whole trains of thought that way (derailed). I know I thought it. Why isn't it in this paper I just wrote?!

First interesting fact I spotted:

Niraj Kachhadi ... is into " ... MES (manufacturing execution systems)."

Would that be ropes? electric chairs? Or more new-tech stuff. The mind boggles.

My beard is, indeed, grey. I think I'm usually too laid back to get cantankerous - tho' I don't suffer idiots kindly. (Or is that gladly? neither sounds right - it must be getting late - oh, my, 2007 already!).

Regarding my retirement prospects:

I'm getting towards that age, but being self-employed (and short-sighted cum unlucky enough not to have any pension provision worth talking about) I'll probably go on 'til I drop.

I don't get mixed up (much) in the big-company politics, tho' my customer's in-fighting sometimes rubs off in my direction.

Anyway, if I "retired", I'd almost certainly end up just doing the same stuff (only working on more ideas I want to work on (which may or may not pay), and more fishing in between).

I'm one of the guys who are just 7 years away from "optional" retirement. For some of you guys that means "early" retirement. I, however, am not willing to wait that long to get out.

The reason for that is because of pressure, also mentioned in the ISA report. Our factory is running at maximum capacity. Any stoppage is lost production, never to be recovered. So the pressure is on to keep the factory running at 100%.

From an accounting viewpoint, such a state is favorable for the company. You're running without any unused resources or idle hours. Everything is being used at 100% efficiency and, moneywise, that's perfect.

From an engineering viewpoint, it's a disaster waiting to happen. Maintenance is being done but at a feverish pace. Sometimes, lately, it's not being done. I schedule things to be calibrated, for example, and they divert the guy to work on something else. I ask for additional personnel to handle the overload but they say it can be done with the present workforce. It doesn't matter if I show workorder backlogs, I just get told to "work more efficiently".

Is it any wonder that I've developed hypertension? That was what triggered all these thoughts of leaving. What's the use of all that retirement money if I have to spend it on medical bills?

So now, I've been taking steps to go into another line of work, giving seminars. Perhaps I can impart some of this hard-earned knowledge to the younger generation and implore them, that if they ever get into managing their own companies, to think about their employees at the same level as their companies.

it gets to a point that your life is the company's.

one thing that you gained, is valuable experience, now you have to weight your priorities.

Run to destruction Ehh! Too bad they are so short-sighted. In the long run that mode of operation costs more than just equipment, and downtime, it will cost them good people.

"From an engineering viewpoint, it's a disaster waiting to happen. Maintenance is being done but at a feverish pace." It's also inherently DANGEROUS!

At some point, no amount of money will make up for the stress.

I'd have to say I too am (or was) a grey beard. Actually, my beard had two white stripes angling down from the moustache -- and (not that I really believe that there is a connection between hair and brain function) I think it made me look a little like a psychotic/sociopathic serial killer type. Not wanting to tip my hat to others, I shaved it off.

Even when I worked as an employee, 1/2 of that time I was in the consulting biz. Then I started my own company in 1988. I've had some very long term contracts where people just assume I'm an employee of the client company. Like most entrepreneurs, I tend toward wild, unbridled, irrational optimism when the idea is my own... but I am also something of a cynic. I've done a fair amount of safety-related consulting, and have worked with several very large corporations where they say publicly "Of course, safety is our number one concern." I've never worked for a company in which that is actually true. Good corporate stewardship dictates that profit is the number one concern, right? Corporations exist for the benefit of the stockholders.

Despite a cynical streak, I can suck it up and be a consummate yes-man-gosh-golly-that's-a-great-idea-even-though-it-violates-the-intent-of-sixteen-laws-and-common-practices kind of guy.

"I think it made me look a little like a psychotic/sociopathic "

I can see good in that also..............when your busy, people think twice about interrupting you, and only interrupt when absolutely necessary.

phoenix911

True!

I've had rather a different experience, on the Safety side. My biggest customer is a Government outfit - if every last nut, bolt & resistor doesn't have the right approvals and meet the applicable SIL (Safety Integrity Level) they chuck it right back.

That highlights the difference between business (buy low sell high) and government (buy high sell low).

There's a happy balance somewhere, and in my experience Alcoa was pretty darn good, with some honest and effective environmental and safety programs. I've met plenty of reasonable OSHA (the health and safety enforcers here) people, too, and would have to say that their STAR program appears to work pretty well: the business agrees to be proactive and to go above and beyond, and OSHA agrees to be less adversarial.

Hmm. The G'mnt might be good about demanding stuff from suppliers, but they don't "practice what they preach". Remember this: http://www.environmentalhealth.ca/fall93sick.html

When the Federal EPA building was the sickest building in the country. Their Safety Integrity Level was zilch when it came to their own employees.

hypocrisy

Things are getting tougher over here - we're all subject to the outpourings of the European whatsit. Some of the rules are crap, some are good. Trouble is, if push comes to shove, both the good'uns and the dross have to be obeyed.

The "Straight Bananas" debacle was invented by the Press, but there's lots of other rubbish.

If the situation cited cropped up, the HVAC supplier's Technical File would be gone over with a fine-tooth comb. If the supplier was at fault, they would be hung out to dry. It's still a bit more murky what would happen if the supplier was in the clear (e.g. if they said "4 people per room" and someone counted 5), but I think a head or two would roll within the dept. concerned.

For better or for worse, the watchword is becoming "accountability".