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I know most people are gushing with positives ... but to me this reads like the epitome of a clueless consultant who got lucky because the 30 plus years manager
by anenefan 4y ago
I know most people are gushing with positives ... but to me this reads like the epitome of a clueless consultant who got lucky because the 30 plus years manager missed the basics ... unless the era of the tale was early 60s or something or some middle of nowhere fabrication that sprang up with little idea of how other similar places work ... um great story but what really was this based on.
In the industry it's fairly well known (ok that's a weasel phrase even though I'm sure I'd be right if I used 99.999999%) in regard to the overall benefits of TAs (Trade Assistants.) Typically a TA around welders, they're grinding and readying the surfaces to be welded and helping position the work. Though there's value in setting up, not just making blue light, welders generally receive a much higher pay packet, since ultimately it's their good welding skills that ensures quality welds leave the floor and a long life of the component.
What's obvious is what would have happened if the blue light was 50 or 60% of the time and the welding machines were at capacity. (Higher capacity welding machines are generally a lot more expensive.) To the clueless a lot more can be squeezed out ... and that's what the hero would have aimed to do, in fact no doubt another 25%. The experienced plant manager would have then kindly thanked them at that point perhaps realising the consultant was out of their depth.
- nerdponx 4y agoTo be fair, the situation in the story truly does happen in a variety of jobs and businesses. What you are highlighting is the countervailing lesson, kind of a specialization of Chesterton's fence: if highly experienced people are doing a process in what seems to be an inefficient manner, consider that it might actually be the most efficient manner, given constraints that you do not fully understand or are not aware of.
- anenefan 4y agoI'd agree this sort of thing does happen in regular life where the agent of change is someone who's had wide ranging experience and maybe a lateral thinker and adopting other work processes that are proven in existing industries. (However the story above is just that, the chance that happened as stated are slim ... and only for reasons along the lines I've mentioned being a bit isolated or operating in a vacuum.) Sometimes, not that I can think of much software or hardware related situations, the fence is just an idea, years of experience have lead to a situation where they've established a comfort zone of sorts, and hesitant to change the way things are done ... often because they don't totally understand complicated processes they might be using ... or because things done differently might be more open (but rare) to a specific problem or being prone to a failure which from their previous experience, might have chewed up half a day to a day if not more to sort it out ... when the fix by someone who is competent (having been shown the correct way from the start) is able to resolve the issue quickly, barely 20 minutes of time and patience and it's in half an hour it's like nothing happened. As for "do not fully understand" - yes that is an excellent way to describe total inadequacy.
- yuubi 4y agothe story seems to be set in a world that uses gas to weld steel as part of a production process, making a blue flame. are there any torches that can weld steel and make a blue flame? does anyone use manual gas welding in automotive production‽
- anenefan 4y agoThe blue light is from a arc welding process be it stick rods or gas shielded continuous wire. A flame would not have the on and off as described as well as being hard to detect at any distance. The most common steel welding flame process, oxy acetylene flame has an inner blue hue but the welding pool is probably brighter, so I doubt even at 10 feet a person could notice any particular colour hue, for anything hand held.