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August 2013

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Subject:
From:
"Nutting, Phil" <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
TechNet E-Mail Forum <[log in to unmask]>, Nutting, Phil
Date:
Thu, 15 Aug 2013 12:51:06 +0000
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When my son was in High School he didn't want to go to college.  My directive to him was "then learn a trade" (you cannot outsource a plumber, electrician, carpenter or mechanic).  At the beginning of his senior year he realized that he wanted to follow my footsteps.  He has transitioned from a straight D student in 9th and 10th grade to >3.0 average in college where he is studying Mechanical Engineering Technology.  His college professors realized that "he gets it".  Now to find two good co-op semesters and a solid job upon graduation in 2015.

Phil

-----Original Message-----
From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Bev Christian
Sent: Wednesday, August 14, 2013 8:20 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [TN] Refreshment (NTC rant continues)

And yet another addition.

The oldest is a former paratrooper who I then helped put through fire fighter's school, now studying for captain while an active city firefighter and pulling in a good salary.  The oldest daughter with a BA in sociology and anthropology is living in a camper van and working as a farm hand while the younger daughter with a BA in international development and Spanish has been teaching English in Mexico but not getting enough hours to make ends meet and is now coming home to live with us for a max of six months while she tries to get her act together.  I wish the girls had taken something practical, but you can't really tell teenagers/young adults much. It is hard watching them learn the hard way.

Bev

-----Original Message-----
From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Inge Hernefjord
Sent: Wednesday, August 14, 2013 6:49 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [TN] Refreshment (NTC rant)

Wow!...or Woe?
What a geyser of wisdom! I just dropped a bit of soap in it. This proves that Technet is far from toothless.
Phil, I'm in same boat as you. My youngest daughter has a academic grade, but works 'temporarily' at a service home for elderly with mental or physical disorder. She blames me for misleading her. Dad, she said, if I had taken a job as plumber or whatever job 10 years ago, I had earned ten times more than what I have now. There are thousands of them with a PhD driving taxi or cleaning dishes. One of many reasons for the weird situation is that brainless company leaders swallowed the bate of 'refining' the crew. Latest 'poisoned apple'  was LEAN, which Snow White put to her mouth without any cogitation. The company I worked for fired hundreds of elderly technicians, closed lots of labs where we made material and component analysis. They meant that it was more in line with modern thinking to buy such service the day we got problems. And I need not tell you why this didn't work so good. The 'modernization'  cost billions at the end. There are now new bosses who, hopefully, learned from the 'days of trimming'.

another curmudgeon

Inge


On 13 August 2013 10:10, Nutting, Phil <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Dewey, love your five sayings!
>
> Ok, this thread has struck a nerve.
>
> I have several "signs" that there is a very limited pool of young 
> talent to replace those of us who have grown up with technology as it 
> too grew
up.
>
> Our local high school dropped Shop and HomEcc many years ago.  I 
> worked as an industry advisor to two high school technical programs.  
> It was sad the lack of knowledge these kids had about simple tools or how things worked.
>
> My alma mater has decided to shift away from all the excellent hands 
> on Associates degree programs (where many of my peers got their start 
> and
> spark) in favor of four years Bachelor of Technology programs.  Now 
> they want to shift all these to full Bachelors.  So my son will be the 
> last graduating class in Mechanical Engineering Technology.  The 
> school has decided to only offer Mechanical Engineering.  They seem to 
> be reaching to being a University rather than the Institute or 
> Institute of Technology that got them to where they are now and the 
> $$$ they can charge.  Are they really that blind to what is really going on?
>
> I was mentioning this change in our society to my boss some time ago 
> and he thought everything would be ok with global outsourcing and we 
> would become a service economy.  There are only so many folks needed 
> to ask if "you want fries with that order".
>
> So now we are waking up to the fact that offshoring may not be as 
> economically practical anymore and then reshoring the manufacturing here.
>  With what work force?  The Baby Boomers (most of us on Technet) are 
> reaching or have reached retirement age.  With offshoring kids weren't 
> directed into manufacturing (it was "dirty, unexciting, had no 
> future"),
so
> there were no new technicians and young engineers to carry the torch.  
> Now we want every kid to go to college... for what, to get a Bachelors 
> Degree and then struggle to find a job in their "field of study".  So 
> they mooch of Mom and Dad and maybe take a job at next to minimum wage 
> and can't afford to spread their wings, move out and buy a car or a 
> house. I've invested about $100,000.00 in my daughters education and 
> she is working
for
> $11/hour part time.  Really?!
>
> I read in the trade mags how some companies are so desperate for 
> skilled workers that they have teamed up with a local school and 
> created an apprentice program.  Wow, a blast from the past.  That was 
> how many of us started.
>
> Now we have business managers that got the questions right on their 
> MBA exam, but have no clue about the products their companies make or 
> what the needs are to properly manufacturer their product.
>
> I could go on, but I'll get off my soap box now.  Thanks to those of 
> you who read this whole rant.
>
> Phil (the curmudgeon)
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Whittaker, Dewey
> (EHCOE)
> Sent: Tuesday, August 13, 2013 12:13 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [TN] Refreshment
>
> As I was reflecting on the things you said I noticed the words on my
board.
> They consist of 5 statements that came from a bigger list I had from 
> something I wrote many, many years ago. When the term" The Peter
Principle"
> came out, I wrote " The Peter Pan Principle" as a Manager's guide to 
> Never -Never Land to deal with the time of MBOs( management by or in 
> spite of
> objectives) and other lack-of-management-skill terms. Now we have Six
Sigma
> and other tools which only yield answers that reflect an aggregate 
> whole
of
> the consensus opinion of both the informed and the utterly clueless. 
> It's not that the answer is wrong; it is the best available answer 
> given the inputs, but not the best correct answer. The ability to find 
> multiple recommendations and inputs on any subject matter via all the 
> available search engines has negated most individual contributions.
> No corporation strives for perfection let alone pride in that 
> accomplishment , but get it out the door as quickly and cheaply as
possible
> with all supporting efforts at a level of just good enough.
> They still appear to be pertinent. They are as follows:
>
> *       Never let the grasp of reality hold you back.
> *       Never let the voice of reason drown you out.
> *       Never let the light of wisdom shadow your intentions.
> *       Never let an intellectual spark ignite your creativity.
> *       Never let the cataracts of conscience dull your vision.
>
> Dewey
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Ed Popielarski
> Sent: Tuesday, August 13, 2013 8:33 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [TN] Refreshment
>
> Inge,
>
> I, too, have noticed the gradual fade, and it's my opinion we, 
> ourselves, are to blame. Similar to what has happened inside NASA, the "pioneers"
that
> sculpted the industry are dead, dying, retired and tired. We as a 
> society failed to properly backfill with fresh talent and the 
> methodology of upstarting engineering grads is much different than "in 
> our day". Seems to me the new generation engineers have developed a 
> love affair with their desktop computers and the internet (something 
> that didn't even exist when we were sprouting wings) and "we" 
> collectively, are transforming to a more digital existence, as opposed 
> to the hard, wet, hot physical realm. As
this
> evolution proceeds, much of the pioneering spirit is lost, as well as 
> the good-old-fashioned "chutzpah" to "break outside the box, damn the 
> torpedoes, full speed ahead." Job preservation has become a primary 
> focus and this has really retarded the craft.
>
> Just my $0.0199999 and ventilation of an issue that I've been 
> containing for some time now.
>
> Ed Popielarski
> Engineering Manager
>
>
>                                970 NE 21st Ct.
>                               Oak Harbor, Wa. 98277
>
>                               Ph: 360-675-1322
>                               Fx: 206-624-0965
>                               Cl: 949-581-6601
>
>
>
https://maps.google.com/maps/myplaces?hl=en&ll=48.315753,-122.643578&spn=0.0
11188,0.033023&ctz=420&t=m&z=16&iwloc=A
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Inge Hernefjord
> Sent: Tuesday, August 13, 2013 3:00 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: [TN] Refreshment
>
> Technet, once a supernova...now just a fading sparkle. Time for 
> renaissence (french)? Blood transfusion? Vitamin therapy?  Dopamin cure?
> .......zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz, ...sorry....YYYAAAWN...
>
> Inge
>
>
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