Just trying to clear my head...
remember this? LOL...the elites would shit their pants,
which creates the highly touted "trickle
down" effect. -g- In the never ending pursuit to 'reduce costs' we should create standards to make quoting faster. Updating them with suggestions according to continuous improvement. A young engineer suggested using a bigger cooler for the oil because the engine would overheat in the summer. This bigger cooler had previously been used for locations with hot summers.
Upon reviewing the task from my supervisor I discovered that the oil cooler wasn't properly sized and the existing line size going to the cooler, and the cooler we bought from a supplier, would need to change so I referred it to my supervisor who referred it to the engineer for review to do good work and set good standards.
His assessment, I think, was the existing oil cooler was causing the engine to overheat in the summer when used in warm climates, and the bigger cooler was causing the compressor to freeze in the winter in cold climates. The size of the oil cooler was good for only a few engine/compressor combinations. Also, the thermocouples on the newer engines couldn't be disconnected and our service department was getting an increasing number of complaints. He did a thorough review, tested his idea in the field, and produced a thorough report of the issue and supplied a solution of a bypass line and a matrix for different engines, coolers, and bypass lines. I updated the drawing templates. His report was published. The service department gave a glowing review of the solution and standards department. I'm not sure who didn't like the bypass line, could have been the customers, could have been the engineers, could have been the designers, could have been the shop, but I had the impression they were not liked.
They solution was tried. I don't think it took all that before the bigger cooler as originally suggested was being used when needed. At some point the service department became its own company.
A little while later I got frustrated tracking change suggestions, waiting, in progress, and outstanding, and drawings that could not be updated yet because the material changes were still being processed. If I processed multiple change requests at once it was a flood of paper to be processed. I think I blew up the standards department. |
