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#71
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OT...and a little bit on-topic
My wife, by the way, has as patients several dentists. Translation: My therapist must have some dental patients. -- Charlie ----== Posted via Newsfeed.Com - Unlimited-Uncensored-Secure Usenet News==---- http://www.newsfeed.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! 100,000 Newsgroups ---= 19 East/West-Coast Specialized Servers - Total Privacy via Encryption =--- |
#72
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OT...and a little bit on-topic
I didn't answer your question because it isn't deserving of an answer. Translation: Again, I didn't have an answer. -- Charlie ----== Posted via Newsfeed.Com - Unlimited-Uncensored-Secure Usenet News==---- http://www.newsfeed.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! 100,000 Newsgroups ---= 19 East/West-Coast Specialized Servers - Total Privacy via Encryption =--- |
#73
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OT...and a little bit on-topic
NOYB,
I'll have been there this February 15 years. I was the first skilled trades person hired from the street. Before this plant became an engine plant it was a tractor plant. The tractor manufacturing was sold to New Holland, so a lot of the older employees know what it's like to shut down a plant. I had previously spent 19 years with TRW's steering and suspension plant before quitting and going to Ford. The company's policy at the engine plant has always been quality from day one. They give us an "800" number (that reaches Dearborn) we can call if quality is being ignored at the plant. This isn't to say we've haven't ever had problems related to an hourly employee slacking off and not doing their quality checks which resulted in a customer having to replace an engine, but I can say that by far most all the employees salaried or hourly understand that putting a flawless product is tantamount to our survival and reputation. In so far as an assembly line worker changing a fuse, that'll never happen. Two reasons, first the union would be against this for their position is a skilled trade is a skilled trade, in other words it takes a fair amount of training. Secondly, the company safety office would have a fit. NOYB I'll tell you, if I have one frustration or complaint it's the company's safety office. They're trying to make every job idiot proof, they just don't understand that they just build better idiots. Darwin's law never gets a chance to cull the utterly stupid. Okay rant off. Where as years ago you could climb on panels and machinery or walk the ceiling beams today that a thing of the past, if they catch you it's a week off with the unions blessing. This is the same mentality that dictates you can't have monkey bars at play grounds any more. If some one gets hurt they try to make rules so that can never happen again in their book there is no such thing as an accident. When I used to be a car mechanic I was asked how I skinned my hand, heck I didn't even remember, getting hand bruises while wrenching on an engine was just a part of the job. I guess I'm just old school. I'm 56 an have been doing this a while so it's kind of hard to welcome some of these liability rules that seem made by lawyers trying to stop a potential lawsuit. Last year I was wearing a short sleeve shirt as part of my work uniform, this wear I have a fire retardant thick long sleeve shirt and matching pants that I now have to wear to open an electrical panel. So where before I wore the short sleeve shirt, now I wear a tee shirt to stay cool and than have to put on the long sleeve shirt if I have to open the panel, even if all I want to do is get a print out. Rules!!!! If it is determined the arc flash potential is of a greater level I have to don a nomex head baklava with a hard hat and a full face shield plus 1000 volt rubber gloves with leather gloves on top of these. Can you say sweat? If I have to go up to one of the primary penthouses, where the 13,200 volts comes in and gets transformed down to 460 volts, I have to wear what we call the moon suit, this looks like something out of an old space movie. They've issued me a complete 1000 volt insulated tool kit to work on live wires, yet we never work on live systems, nor would I. I have great respect for lineman who do, they literally attach them selves to the wire and I'm talking 13,200 and up. So in summation, in an effort to keep all of us safe, the company has spent a ton of money an made my job a lot harder and time consuming. So the chances of letting a production employee change a fuse is remote. There is usually a reason a fuse blows and when one does I make certain checks such as ohming out the motor or wire it blew out on, just replacing it wouldn't be a good idea. Actually if something stalls a motor, an overload should pop, not a fuse blow. It's not to say that a production worker couldn't be trained, but do you want to make an electrician or a machine repairperson out of all the assemblers? For example at TRW we had several trades that no longer exist, tin smith and welder were folded into the millwright trade. At Ford its the same way, our millwrights are the jack of all trades, welders, riggers, tin smiths. I have to wonder if the transplants (Honda, Toyoda ect.) will continue this policy after one of their assemblers while changing a fuse get seriously hurt and a lawsuit results. Lawsuits are one of my pet peeves, but that's a whole different subject. Take care, Paul P.S. To keep it somewhat on topic, boat safe. :-) "NOYB" wrote in message link.net... Excellent news Paul. I guess that's why the domestics have closed the gap (and sometimes surpassed) the imports in initial quality. How long have you been there? Was there a time when that policy wasn't the norm? How about the other issues mentioned in the Time magazine article? (ie-line workers with broader job classifications and training to do preventive maintenance). Can an assembly worker change a fuse, for instance...or does this require a "skilled tradesman"? If Ford, GM, and Chrysler's unions are allowing these things now, then kudos to them. Here's an excerpt: "But job classifications at transplant factories are broader. Line workers are trained in a variety of tasks - say, spot welding as well as interior assembly - and they rotate jobs frequently. They're less susceptible to boredom and repetitive-stress injuries. They're also trained to do preventive maintenance. At Toyota plants, every assembly-line worker has the authority to stop the line if he or she spots, say, a flaw in a windshield. More important, workers are encouraged by management to do so. The long and often bitter relationship between the Big Three and the UAW means that their work practices are rooted not in mutual trust but in a system of sometimes picky rules. A "skilled tradesman" may be required to change a fuse in an assembly-line machine, a task that an assembly worker could easily be trained to perform. Work rules differ from plant to plant because agreements are negotiated with local union leaders. If a tradesman notices a line worker fiddling with equipment, he may file a grievance, claiming that his job is being undercut by a lower-paid employee." "Paul Schilter" paulschilter@comcast,dot,net wrote in message ... "NOYB" wrote in message link.net... I attribute the quality differences to several things. If you read the article, you saw where it said Cadillac is #2 in initial quality...second only to Lexus (toyota). They attribute it to Cadillac's recent adoption of "flexible assembly"...things like the ability of any line-worker to stop the line dead if he/she sees any quality issue or defect. Unions have so far prevented this in most of the factories they have a presence in. That's the main thing I attribute the quality differences to. It costs $300 to 500 more per vehicle to make a Chrysler, Ford, or GM car. Obviously, that difference has to be made up somewhere...and it probably is coming off of the quality of the parts/materials. NOYB, At Ford's Romeo Engine Plant, any worker who sees a defect is "expected" to stop the line. I work there, and the last thing we want to produce is a faulty product. It comes down to job pride and job security. I'm an electrician there and I can tell you that quality is job one. Paul |
#74
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OT...and a little bit on-topic
Why is it now that when I think of dentists, my mind wanders to the film
'Marathon Man' and the sadistic dentist who tortured Dustin Hoffman? I'd better go see my own to restore my faith in the profession. note: as far as I know she does not abuse or OD on 'laughing gas'. NOYB wrote in message ... It better. Socialized medicine will drive all of the decent docs away. |
#75
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OT...and a little bit on-topic
"Paul Schilter" paulschilter@comcast,dot,net wrote in message
... if I have one frustration or complaint it's the company's safety office. They're trying to make every job idiot proof, they just don't understand that they just build better idiots. Darwin's law never gets a chance to cull the utterly stupid. Okay rant off. Where as years ago you could climb on panels and machinery or walk the ceiling beams today that a thing of the past, if they catch you it's a week off with the unions blessing. This is the same mentality that dictates you can't have monkey bars at play grounds any more. Speaking of monkey bars...there's a George Carlin routine I have here on disk ("**** the Children") which, among other things, talks about the obsession with safety. Funny as hell. It's just under 7mb in size, if anyone wants a copy. Or, find it online. |
#76
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OT...and a little bit on-topic
Hey...they're not all like NOYB, or the one you mention in the movie. My
dentist is brilliant. "Don White" wrote in message ... Why is it now that when I think of dentists, my mind wanders to the film 'Marathon Man' and the sadistic dentist who tortured Dustin Hoffman? I'd better go see my own to restore my faith in the profession. note: as far as I know she does not abuse or OD on 'laughing gas'. NOYB wrote in message ... It better. Socialized medicine will drive all of the decent docs away. |
#77
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OT...and a little bit on-topic
"Don White" wrote in message ... Why is it now that when I think of dentists, my mind wanders to the film 'Marathon Man' and the sadistic dentist who tortured Dustin Hoffman? Perhaps because you had a sadistic dentist when you were a kid? |
#78
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OT...and a little bit on-topic
Ask him his political affiliation. No dentist I know makes it a habit of
discussing politics, religion, etc. with his/her patients. I certainly don't. I get people from both sides of the political spectrum...and both sides get the same response when they say something extreme or outlandish. I just smile, nod, and tell 'em to open. Hell, if you vacation and get a tootache in Naples one day, *you* could sit in my chair and never even know it. Hard as it might be to imagine, I'd even treat Harry with utmost respect and professionalism. "Doug Kanter" wrote in message ... Hey...they're not all like NOYB, or the one you mention in the movie. My dentist is brilliant. "Don White" wrote in message ... Why is it now that when I think of dentists, my mind wanders to the film 'Marathon Man' and the sadistic dentist who tortured Dustin Hoffman? I'd better go see my own to restore my faith in the profession. note: as far as I know she does not abuse or OD on 'laughing gas'. NOYB wrote in message ... It better. Socialized medicine will drive all of the decent docs away. |
#79
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OT...and a little bit on-topic
We did. I swear they brought over all the 'research dentists' to work in our
school system in the 50's. We had big gruff ugly women with heavy accents who barely let the needle brush your gums before applying the industral sized drill. Quite tramatic and with no dental coverage, we had to go where the service was 'free'. NOYB wrote in message ... "Don White" wrote in message ... Why is it now that when I think of dentists, my mind wanders to the film 'Marathon Man' and the sadistic dentist who tortured Dustin Hoffman? Perhaps because you had a sadistic dentist when you were a kid? |
#80
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OT...and a little bit on-topic
"Don White" wrote in message ... We did. I swear they brought over all the 'research dentists' to work in our school system in the 50's. We had big gruff ugly women with heavy accents who barely let the needle brush your gums before applying the industral sized drill. Quite tramatic and with no dental coverage, we had to go where the service was 'free'. No dental coverage????? What happened to the wonderful services you union provided you? |
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