Step 1 - Promise yourself that you will update your blog TODAY.
Step 2 - Wait about a week to allow something blogworthy (Firefox thinks that is misspelled) to happen.
Step 3 - Actually forget that you "maintain" a blog because you are so friggin busy.
Step 4 - Update your Facebook status.
Step 5 - DR. TRAN!
Step 6 - Come up with a hilarious post.
Step 7 - ???????
Step 8 - PROFIT!
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Because busy is hot
Work has been bonkers.
We have the construction project that is making the new manufacturing area - my area. So I designed the space, and drew up the plan that the architect created the plan from, and I gave all of the information to all of the sub-contractors and the general contractor, and I negotiated the original schedule and all but one of the revisions and figured out how to get us back onto the original schedule after the start date was pushed out a week by the one revision I didn't do. And I worked with the contractor and subs all Saturday while all the major demolition was happening and reconfigured cubicle walls and moved refrigerators and moved and reconnected alarm lines. I mediated between the HVAC subcontractor and the repair and maintenance contractor after the sub screwed up and cut the control line that gives us heat in the building. I found and pointed out the missing electrical drops and the window framing the framers missed. I have worked my butt off on this project. In two weeks or so, we get to occupy the space. There are a few hundred more details for that part yet to go.
And we are experiencing record sales for the month of March, including FOUR copies of an instrument that we had planned to build ZERO of as late as one month ago. This just happens to be the instrument that is the most challenging to make, and that is supposed to have undergone a few MAJOR CHANGES that make it easier to make by now, but hasn't yet. And we are running out of the parts that we stopped buying because the design was being superseded by the MAJOR CHANGES that haven't happened yet because they were supposed to happen NEXT MONTH, after we had a month in which we didn't need to make any of them.
And I have just taken over the Field Service function and the pressure to make it work perfectly and at a profit is increasing, except I mostly get indirect micromanagement instead of goals and strategies.
And the project to make everything in one product line on one pretty pretty platform is a bit off the rails due to technical snags. It's a rather messy project. Ugh.
So work days are long these days.
We have the construction project that is making the new manufacturing area - my area. So I designed the space, and drew up the plan that the architect created the plan from, and I gave all of the information to all of the sub-contractors and the general contractor, and I negotiated the original schedule and all but one of the revisions and figured out how to get us back onto the original schedule after the start date was pushed out a week by the one revision I didn't do. And I worked with the contractor and subs all Saturday while all the major demolition was happening and reconfigured cubicle walls and moved refrigerators and moved and reconnected alarm lines. I mediated between the HVAC subcontractor and the repair and maintenance contractor after the sub screwed up and cut the control line that gives us heat in the building. I found and pointed out the missing electrical drops and the window framing the framers missed. I have worked my butt off on this project. In two weeks or so, we get to occupy the space. There are a few hundred more details for that part yet to go.
And we are experiencing record sales for the month of March, including FOUR copies of an instrument that we had planned to build ZERO of as late as one month ago. This just happens to be the instrument that is the most challenging to make, and that is supposed to have undergone a few MAJOR CHANGES that make it easier to make by now, but hasn't yet. And we are running out of the parts that we stopped buying because the design was being superseded by the MAJOR CHANGES that haven't happened yet because they were supposed to happen NEXT MONTH, after we had a month in which we didn't need to make any of them.
And I have just taken over the Field Service function and the pressure to make it work perfectly and at a profit is increasing, except I mostly get indirect micromanagement instead of goals and strategies.
And the project to make everything in one product line on one pretty pretty platform is a bit off the rails due to technical snags. It's a rather messy project. Ugh.
So work days are long these days.
Thursday, March 04, 2010
Hack
No so much coughing now - I had to pause to cough just then - as before. I apparently still hate being sick.
We had one of those cleanup days round here on Monday. That's where the garbage collection company allows you to put out just about anything short of a herd of expired rhinos and they'll haul it all off. We put out a couple of decrepit bikes, a few bundles of half rotted fence boards, a bunch of particle board shelving unit that had been cut up, a few cans of trash of various sorts, an old lounger frame, etc..
It looked like the garbage dump had burped up a whole load of stuff onto our curbside. I thought for sure they would leave some of it behind as not allowed or too much. Nope. When I came home it was ALL GONE like magical laborers had taken it away. It was awesome.
We had one of those cleanup days round here on Monday. That's where the garbage collection company allows you to put out just about anything short of a herd of expired rhinos and they'll haul it all off. We put out a couple of decrepit bikes, a few bundles of half rotted fence boards, a bunch of particle board shelving unit that had been cut up, a few cans of trash of various sorts, an old lounger frame, etc..
It looked like the garbage dump had burped up a whole load of stuff onto our curbside. I thought for sure they would leave some of it behind as not allowed or too much. Nope. When I came home it was ALL GONE like magical laborers had taken it away. It was awesome.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Hack, hack
I have a cold.
I'm still as busy as a beaver. I just feel like crud while doing it.
At least I'm not feverish and delirious like on Wednesday.
I'm still as busy as a beaver. I just feel like crud while doing it.
At least I'm not feverish and delirious like on Wednesday.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Oh yeah, my blog!
I was abducted by aliens and they told me that they couldn't allow me to use the internet because their router password was too long for my laptop to handle. Sorry you had to wait.
So we had the long weekend there and while my friends to the east simply dug out of the snow, we here at Casa de Collier got down and dirty with our funky funky garage. Sexy, eh? We got all Medieval on it and stuff.
Number one -- Clear out a bunch of stuff from the "up top" which is really just a gigantic 6 foot by 20 foot shelf. Science knows why we had all that crap. Now, less crap.
Number two -- One 4X8 foot piece of pegboard. Want it?
Number C -- Cabinet that had got wet in the flood, and was now moldy. In its defence (Yeah, that's the UK spelling. You gotta problem with that?) it was kinda old and made of particleboard. We never really liked it. I sawed it into bits and we took all the mops, brooms, vacuums, and plant food items and set them aside while I constructed...
THE FLAMING STEP OF THE CALIGARI! Actually just a wee platform that is, if I take Amy's word for it, "pretty awesome". Here is a fantastic COLOR picture.
Several times, I just went out there to look at it. Seriously.
Just your basic 2X4 framing shimmed up level at each of ten joints (with different thicknesses to match the floor), glued in place with fancy schmancy construction adhesive, topped with 1-1/4 plywood (awesomely heavy in a 4X8 sheet), graced with premium 99 cent peel-n-stick tiles and finished off with aluminum stair nosing and painted trim boards. I even painted the base frame. This step will outlive me. This makes me happy.
But wait, there's MOAR!
The (friggin) fluorescent lights in the garage USED TO buzz and flicker like a broken overhead warning sign in a post-apocalyptic movie scene. No longer. With the advent of $20 fixtures to replace the crappy four year old $14 fixtures, instant, bright, silent light, holy light bathes our laundry equipment and assortment of stuff. These new fixtures actually have a very nice efficient electronic ballast. It's almost like being the ruler of Narnia just stepping out there.
Oh yeah, I'm as busy as a one legged man in a butt kicking contest at work.
That is all.
So we had the long weekend there and while my friends to the east simply dug out of the snow, we here at Casa de Collier got down and dirty with our funky funky garage. Sexy, eh? We got all Medieval on it and stuff.
Number one -- Clear out a bunch of stuff from the "up top" which is really just a gigantic 6 foot by 20 foot shelf. Science knows why we had all that crap. Now, less crap.
Number two -- One 4X8 foot piece of pegboard. Want it?
Number C -- Cabinet that had got wet in the flood, and was now moldy. In its defence (Yeah, that's the UK spelling. You gotta problem with that?) it was kinda old and made of particleboard. We never really liked it. I sawed it into bits and we took all the mops, brooms, vacuums, and plant food items and set them aside while I constructed...
THE FLAMING STEP OF THE CALIGARI! Actually just a wee platform that is, if I take Amy's word for it, "pretty awesome". Here is a fantastic COLOR picture.
Several times, I just went out there to look at it. Seriously.
Just your basic 2X4 framing shimmed up level at each of ten joints (with different thicknesses to match the floor), glued in place with fancy schmancy construction adhesive, topped with 1-1/4 plywood (awesomely heavy in a 4X8 sheet), graced with premium 99 cent peel-n-stick tiles and finished off with aluminum stair nosing and painted trim boards. I even painted the base frame. This step will outlive me. This makes me happy.
But wait, there's MOAR!
The (friggin) fluorescent lights in the garage USED TO buzz and flicker like a broken overhead warning sign in a post-apocalyptic movie scene. No longer. With the advent of $20 fixtures to replace the crappy four year old $14 fixtures, instant, bright, silent light, holy light bathes our laundry equipment and assortment of stuff. These new fixtures actually have a very nice efficient electronic ballast. It's almost like being the ruler of Narnia just stepping out there.
Oh yeah, I'm as busy as a one legged man in a butt kicking contest at work.
That is all.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Finally!
So about two years ago I started dreaming (almost literally) of a big revision to the instrument product that we crank out at the workplace there. This was not going to be a change for the performance enhancement of the system, or for cutting the cost in half, but it was going to be a huge boon to the worker needing to make one of the things, and it would make it less likely to just crap out all of the sudden.
So for two years I've waited. About a year and a half ago, we were coming out with our slick new product which is a best seller and makes us a lot of bucks. At *that* point I was sure we could come up with a MUCH better design for this part of the product. Alas, the design that was delivered was - in my professional opinion - WORSE than the crappy original part. I wasted no time in telling my colleagues that this new design was "not manufacturable". For my trouble, I was told I hurt their feelings. Literally. In those words.
Now mind you, it is my job to know whether something is manufacturable, having been hired to use my three decades of manufacturing experience to aid in this assessment. The organization nominally depends on me to assist the design people to make this assessment, and to guide their work to achieve more manufacturable designs. My friend Charles W used to refer to me as "the Dennis Miller of manufacturability" based on my zeal and attention to detail in the endeavor.
It was hard to put into words how deeply offensive this "design" was. The current (very bright and clever) electronics design fellow remarked that it was difficult for him to simply take one apart, and that he was ecstatic to find out that someone else would build the one that he was to work with.
So tomorrow we will be "releasing" the replacement design. Releasing is essentially publishing the documents that describe the complete design that you will be building. It allows us to start buying parts. The new design, with no small inspiration or input from me, will cost far less, take 1/8th the time to build, and be more robust than the three designs it is replacing. Additionally (my idea, BTW) it will work for all of the products in this format, not just one.
Given our actual level of sophistication two years ago, we couldn't have made this product then. In a sense I glad we waited, or rather, had to wait. I know it's a goofy thing to get excited about but I'm really very delighted and expectant about this. The project to get it into all three products and to get them all re-certified and to have everything done on time is one of the most complicated coordination projects we've attempted. On the manufacturing side, it is all up to me to make it all work out. I'm really enjoying the project.
Finally.
So for two years I've waited. About a year and a half ago, we were coming out with our slick new product which is a best seller and makes us a lot of bucks. At *that* point I was sure we could come up with a MUCH better design for this part of the product. Alas, the design that was delivered was - in my professional opinion - WORSE than the crappy original part. I wasted no time in telling my colleagues that this new design was "not manufacturable". For my trouble, I was told I hurt their feelings. Literally. In those words.
Now mind you, it is my job to know whether something is manufacturable, having been hired to use my three decades of manufacturing experience to aid in this assessment. The organization nominally depends on me to assist the design people to make this assessment, and to guide their work to achieve more manufacturable designs. My friend Charles W used to refer to me as "the Dennis Miller of manufacturability" based on my zeal and attention to detail in the endeavor.
It was hard to put into words how deeply offensive this "design" was. The current (very bright and clever) electronics design fellow remarked that it was difficult for him to simply take one apart, and that he was ecstatic to find out that someone else would build the one that he was to work with.
So tomorrow we will be "releasing" the replacement design. Releasing is essentially publishing the documents that describe the complete design that you will be building. It allows us to start buying parts. The new design, with no small inspiration or input from me, will cost far less, take 1/8th the time to build, and be more robust than the three designs it is replacing. Additionally (my idea, BTW) it will work for all of the products in this format, not just one.
Given our actual level of sophistication two years ago, we couldn't have made this product then. In a sense I glad we waited, or rather, had to wait. I know it's a goofy thing to get excited about but I'm really very delighted and expectant about this. The project to get it into all three products and to get them all re-certified and to have everything done on time is one of the most complicated coordination projects we've attempted. On the manufacturing side, it is all up to me to make it all work out. I'm really enjoying the project.
Finally.
Sunday, February 07, 2010
Close to my heart
That would be my left lung. :-) And good friends.
Yesterday we paddled upstream to Rocklin to get our straight Renaissance dance on with our friends Kat and Mark and Joel and their respective guildmates. For those of you who do not speak jive and renfaire, we drove to Rocklin (2-1/2 hours + 50 minutes for a very bad freeway delay from an accident), and taught two 90-minute dance classes to people in two affiliated Renaissance Faire guilds. We had a great time teaching and visiting too. We declined the offer to crash there and paddled back downstream (that would be following the Sacramento River back to the Bay Area) (faster, no traffic and no accident) and crashed in our own bed. Nice.
Last week was hectic at work. Two large simultaneous projects coming up; building a new 1600sf manufacturing area in an unused section of the suite we are in, and the re-introduction of our four most popular products with majorly revised guts. I'll be super busy busy for the next eight weeks or so.
Yesterday we paddled upstream to Rocklin to get our straight Renaissance dance on with our friends Kat and Mark and Joel and their respective guildmates. For those of you who do not speak jive and renfaire, we drove to Rocklin (2-1/2 hours + 50 minutes for a very bad freeway delay from an accident), and taught two 90-minute dance classes to people in two affiliated Renaissance Faire guilds. We had a great time teaching and visiting too. We declined the offer to crash there and paddled back downstream (that would be following the Sacramento River back to the Bay Area) (faster, no traffic and no accident) and crashed in our own bed. Nice.
Last week was hectic at work. Two large simultaneous projects coming up; building a new 1600sf manufacturing area in an unused section of the suite we are in, and the re-introduction of our four most popular products with majorly revised guts. I'll be super busy busy for the next eight weeks or so.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)