Friday, February 13, 2015

This Launch is Going Decidedly as Expected

The horror stories proliferate. "There are problems everywhere!" the engineers scream. I want to disassociate myself from all aspects of this program. Yet, then we see a machine silently creep around the corner with glistening new paint and operating correctly, and I realize all of the problems I know of are rather minor. Updating them all and communicating all of the changes in a timely format... still overwhelming, but certainly manageable. 

This is a ground up production launch. There is no such thing as a smooth ground up design production launch from the perspective of inside the factory. All of the emotion, the drama, the frustration, is to be expected when the designs of thirty people are suddenly subjected to 150 sets of hands doing all sorts of things we don't understand. This is the engineer's battle. This is his experience. This is why experience matters, because it's only painful memories that describe why we need 10 mm minimum between moving surfaces, even when they are machined. My oh my, what I have learned about clearances and tolerances the last month. 

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.