In news:425e5f61$0$575$ snipped-for-privacy@ptn-nntp-reader03.plus.net, DocDelete decided to enlighten our sheltered souls with a rant as follows
I think I've got one somewhere as well, mine's a metallic gold colour though.
Still doesn't look like the SD1 model I've got though :-P
Usenet isn't big enough to list all the reasons why BL built rubbish.
I first worked in there around the mid 80s, when Honda was just starting to make improvements. I never had much to do with Ford, so most of the other car plants I went into were the new-build Japanese plants. Even so, BL was _primitive_ in a manner that was reminiscent of a Victorian steam engine manufactory, more than a car plant.
Obviously not including Swindon, where the GWR engine assembly shop was using better optical alignment tools in the '20s than we had in the press shop in the '90s.
There was just an attitude of utter cluelesness about most of management. I did a lot of work on SPC systems - most BL managers were ignorant, uninterested and simply had a "not my problem" to innovations like this. They'd make lip service of supporting them, but few could be _bothered_ to understand what the new approach was about, so they'd mis-use or otherwise break it. SPC (Statistical Process Control) is a technique that uses gauging and statistics to _avoid_ making out-of-spec components, not just to detect them afterwards. As it relies on analysing trends, not surprisingly it's dependent on monitoring parts in the order they're being produced. I remember one system for assembling diff components where the parts were being stacked in a cage pallet during transfer between lines - which reverses the order in batches of 125! (you load them from the bottom, you use them from the top) Not surprisingly the stats for that process never really made much sense, but of course the charts all went up on the board just the same. Pure Cargo-Cult by people who couldn't get off their arses to understand what they were doing.
If you ever wish to make a dye laser (as you do) you'll find that it's an easy bit of engineering and minor some chemistry to find the right dye. Rhodamine 6G works perfectly, but is just a little bit too easy. Rowntree's Jelly works too, especially (AFAIR) the lime and tangerine flavours.
You can do it with whisky too. Not the good stuff, but the really _nasty_ ones. Now I'd heard this, but never quite managed to make it work (never did try Bells & Irn Bru pre-mix though). Until finally I found a whisky that would do it -- a bottle of Korean nastiness labelled "Scotty Whisky Drink"
Andy Dingley ( snipped-for-privacy@codesmiths.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :
Do I dare ask?
As in "filtered through a Scotty Terrier"?
Perhaps it was different in closed-shop BL, where a few militants could easily get someone sacked for asking too many questions ...
Ian
I sincerely doubt it. All my *vast* experience of unions - both as a member and official - says otherwise. But it suited the meja to believe otherwise. After all, the print industry - ie Newspapers - were perhaps the worst example of poor management allowing strong unions to get away with murder - in both their interests.
: There was just an attitude of utter cluelesness about most of : management. I did a lot of work on SPC systems - most BL managers were : ignorant, uninterested and simply had a "not my problem" to : innovations like this. They'd make lip service of supporting them, but : few could be _bothered_ to understand what the new approach was about, : so they'd mis-use or otherwise break it. SPC (Statistical Process : Control) is a technique that uses gauging and statistics to _avoid_ : making out-of-spec components, not just to detect them afterwards.
Oddly enough, I was chatting to an acquaintance who builds the software for quality monitoring systems recently. He was telling me about a Well Known but now Foreign Owned British car maker he is working with at the moment. Management think the figures they have are useful. He knows - because he has seen it - that the night shift can't be arsed with all this stuff, and when they have a part within tolerances they stick it in the measuring system several times, so they can make the next few quicker.
The company in question has notoriously poor build quality. I won't say which it is, but I won't be surprised when the parent company pulls the plug.
Ian
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