What is the future of manufacturing?

On Sat, 16 Aug 2003 17:54:39 GMT, snipped-for-privacy@esper.com (Dave Mundt) wrote:

That was one I really wrestled with as a design engineer. If I can make something better without increasing the cost I want to. (Or, even better, make an improvement that people are willing to pay more for) That was my goal. My most recent boss had the mindset you have been describing, seems odd for a director of engineering to not want a particularly god product. "You don't have to be better than anybody else, you just have to be as cheap or cheaper and not any worse." he claimed that customers will look at the bottom line (now, not future expenses) and buy what's cheapest. We argued a little with him and somebody brought up Honda as an example and said they make good stuff that really just keeps on running. My boss claimed that Honda's success has nothing to do with the product, but that they had a superior marketing department. Major downer for a design guy to get this kind of stuff from a guy who is supposed to direct him. Hard to respect someone like that. But, I think people like him in positions like that are all too common in the US today. I honeslty think he was'nt too far departed from a lot of his contemporaries. I belive he and another middle management manufacturing director basically steered our company into a direction where the plant was closed and re-opened in chagao as an assembly only plant and all the parts were outsourced (mostly overseas). I got laid off. Still looking for something good in my area (unwilling to move yet, stubbern, lots of family here). This manager of mine who believed in building an inferior product and selling it cheap was hired at another manufacturin company, wonder if they will go the same way......

Amen

Right now I'm using my hands to support myself (some woodworking, some metalworking, some farm work), I know people in positions like I had who don't know how to use their hands. Gonna be more competition in the burger flipping (no reletive experience necessary) sector if things keep going this way.

I think about stuff like that and wish I was older. As it is I think I'm gonna get to see things get a lot worse before I check out.

Dave

The projectile in the cannon barrel can't exceed the speed of sound in the barrel. With normal propellants at temperatures and pressures tolerable by any reasonable launch vehicle, you could only get about

2700 MPH (about 4,000 fps). You could do a bit better with staged charges (ala Gerald Bull's Supergun).

But even 2700 MPH is too fast to slam a launcher into sea level atmosphere. The launcher would still have to be mostly fuel tanks, and they're rather fragile things. The muzzle would have to extend about 8 miles up to make entry into the atmosphere at that speed tolerable.

Now an 8 mile high cannon is a lot of work to only gain 2700 MPH (you need a bit more than 18,000 MPH to reach low orbit). I don't see it as being cost effective. Fuel is the smallest major expense of launching a payload anyway.

Gary

The germans were doing this during ww2 IIRC, with a long barrel in the mountainside, and multiple staged charges along its length.

Jim

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On 20 Aug 2003 21:15:01 -0700, jim rozen pixelated:

Consider this test from 100 years ago vs. current kids. They didn't dumb down the entire class for the slowest kid back then and look how many scientists/inventors it produced. To wit:

--snip--

8th grade final - 1895

This is the eighth-grade final exam from 1895 in Salina, KS, USA. It was taken from the original document on file at the Smokey Valley Genealogical Society and Library in Salina, KS, and reprinted by the Salina Journal.

8th Grade Final Exam: Salina, KS -1895 ******************************** Grammar (Time, one hour)

1. Give nine rules for the use of Capital Letters.
2. Name the Parts of Speech and define those that have no Modifications.
3. Define Verse, Stanza and Paragraph.
4. What are the Principal Parts of a verb? Give Principal Parts of lie, play, and run.
5. Define Case, Illustrate each Case.
6. What is Punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of Punctuation.

7 - 10. Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that you understand the practical use of the rules of grammar. ***************************************** Arithmetic (Time, 1.25 hours)

1. Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic.
2. A wagon box is 2 ft. deep, 10 feet long, and 3 ft. wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold?
3. If a load of wheat weighs 3942 lbs., what is it worth at

50cts/bushel, deducting 1050 lbs. for tare?

1. District No. 33 has a valuation of ,000. What is the necessary levy to carry on a school seven months at per month, and have 4 for incidentals?
2. Find cost of 6720 lbs. coal at .00 per ton.
3. Find the interest of 2.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent.
4. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 ft. long at per metre?
5. Find bank discount on 0 for 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent.
6. What is the cost of a square farm at per acre, the distance around which is 640 rods?
7. Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt.

******************************************** U.S. History (Time, 45 minutes)

1. Give the epochs into which U.S. History is divided.
2. Give an account of the discovery of America by Columbus.
3. Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War.
4. Show the territorial growth of the United States.
5. Tell what you can of the history of Kansas.
6. Describe three of the most prominent battles of the Rebellion.
7. Who were the following: Morse, Whitney, Fulton, Bell, Lincoln, Penn, and Howe?
8. Name events connected with the following dates: 1607, 1620, 1800,

1849,1865. ********************************************** Orthography (Time, one hour)

1. What is meant by the following: Alphabet, phonetic, orthography, etymology, syllabication?
2. What are elementary sounds? How classified?
3. What are the following, and give examples of each: Trigraph, subvocals, diphthong, cognate letters, linguals?
4. Give four substitutes for caret 'u.'
5. Give two rules for spelling words with final 'e.' Name two exceptions under each rule.
6. Give two uses of silent letters in spelling. Illustrate each.
7. Define the following prefixes and use in connection with a word: bi, dis, mis, pre, semi, post, non, inter, mono, sup.
8. Mark diacritically and divide into syllables the following, and name the sign that indicates the sound: card, ball, mercy, sir, odd, cell, rise,blood, fare, last.
9. Use the following correctly in sentences: cite, site, sight, fane, fain, feign, vane, vain, vein, raze, raise, rays.
10. Write 10 words frequently mispronounced and indicate pronunciation by use of diacritical marks and by syllabication.

******************************************** Geography (Time, one hour)

1. What is climate? Upon what does climate depend?
2. How do you account for the extremes of climate in Kansas?
3. Of what use are rivers? Of what use is the ocean?
4. Describe the mountains of North America.
5. Name and describe the following: Monrovia, Odessa, Denver, Manitoba, Hecla, Yukon, St. Helena, Juan Fernandez, Aspinwall and Orinoco.
6. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U.S.
7. Name all the republics of Europe and give the capital of each.
8. Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific in the same latitude?
9. Describe the process by which the water of the ocean returns to the sources of rivers.
10. Describe the movements of the earth. Give the inclination of the earth.

********************************************** Also notice that the exam took six hours to complete. Gives the saying "he only had an 8th grade education" a whole new meaning, doesn't it?

--snip--

Did someone mention Texas oil and its "boa" owners? Even electricity in the West can't get made without their old natural gas pipelines.

- The advantage of exercising every day is that you die healthier. ------------

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The Big Business bean counters are trying to eliminate the US Worker from the work force. They have got the government to set a loophole in immigrations laws so they can import cheap labor.

American workers are now training the immigrant workers who are doing them out of their jobs. after the training is complete the trainer is laid off or their job is eliminated. I always thought there were caps on immigration but where there is a need in the workforce there is no cap.

The other jobs small - large manufacturing jobs are sent off to NAFTA countries. We are just being phased out and we're so complacent about it that no-one is lifting a finger to stop it.

tHAT

Big business gets exactly what it wants by giving large amounts of money to the campaigns of all candidates for public offices at all levels of government. The elected officials know they will never raise enough money for their next election campaign if they displease big business in any way.

The flow of intellectual property from the United States to China and India will stop when the western corporations realize the governments of China and India are more powerful than 10 Divisions of lawyers in the United States. China and India will expropriate the intellectual property, automobile plants, and everything else without blinking an eye when they consider it necessary or appropriate.