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Standards still need a certain consensus before changes....

In tough times we often hear, especially those working in industry, pleas for ideas, requests for more efficient processes and for all to innovate. This may sound harsh, and for many it is common sense, but read on as to why we in any productive process should not change any standards or adjust gauges or machine timings and so forth. Most importantly though, we must still understand how production systems are structured and can't randomly change things in a standardized system, or enforce a new precedence in a production operation. Change should not be so random.

He was probably speaking about science and technology, but back in the 1600's, Blasé Pascal said that "We should seek the truth without hesitation; and, if we refuse it, we show that we value the esteem of men more than the search for truth." This quote might apply or be relative to anything, but the truth is, no matter how urgent the need for improvement or an adjustment or new idea becomes obvious, we need to think twice before implementing such an adjustment or ideas. Just because we live in times where we are all required to change, doesn't apply to every element or every facet of our lives.

This isn't going to accepted by everyone, especially those who have to bite their tongue when they see something that needs immediate attention. Sure, if the idea means life and death, we act first, and we justify our actions later. But, it needs to be understood that problems in any process can be frustrating, while it takes a special person to say "I will wait patiently before making any changes which might possibly be questioned by experts, by those with hidden reasons that we don't seem to always understand.

This is very important...Arbitrary, or radical change when applied to an actively engaged production operations are not always wise. Why is this subject being raised in the first place? The other day, this writer heard one of our top political commentators who has a tendency to boast mention that "William Blake said years ago that innovation invites mistakes."

What? This is obviously a guy that is now swimming against the current economic tide where everyone is calling for new ideas, inventions, efficiency and expansion. The guy is swimming against the tide here where everyone seems to be demanding a flood of new ideas and almost radical change and improvement. This is the often ironic beauty of allowing people have their say. Even though the comments the commentator makes are often quite obnoxious, he risked sounding like a dictator, while in reality, a few certainly caught what he was trying to say, and can take his absurd statement and then elaborate more about the problems of change. He was only commenting so I thought. He wasn't physically stopping the thrust towards progress.

When we apply the issue of change and improvements to most organizations, the best policy for inter-department, or inner-skill relations is to be objective or open-minded on almost any level of an organization. An example of the benefits of such interpersonal flexibility is where it is sometimes better to do things the "Old way" than to do it the "New, possibly, wrong way" where the "New Way" has not yet been extensively proven. I have found that even if the "New Way" is better, it is always the best policy to get approval if there is any possibility that any certain change could go wrong in the process.

In the world of science, this subject is very controversial, but it is better to discuss and disclose the risks. We are not all scientist, but scientists realize how long it takes to correct mistakes. They realize the risks where change becomes rampant, especially where there is too much of what some might call improvement, or "better intentions."

In our current economy the experts, policy makers, and politicians are surely invited to suggest that we innovate. But innovation also invites random experiment and development. Many experts in any professional field, take surgery as an example are quite rigid and suspicious of change. That is for good reason, because in an age where innovation is so radically encouraged, people begin to look at authority as not being progressive and forward thinking. That often invites certain well intended people along the chain of command to try new things, and to experiment.

Such "arbitrary" or random or barely tested experiment works in certain situations, but it also has the tendency to invite pre-mature trouble, and at times, results in a whole bunch of stress for those in the the decision making positions. So, change is actually a contradiction and it is often the worst and the best of both worlds. It is the cause and the solution for all things, but we need to keep in mind that it needs to be tried and tested, proven, and scientific when applied to an actively engaged production operation.

So, if some guy named William Blake said years ago that "innovation invites mistakes." I won't shoot the messenger, but just try to elaborate about what he might have meant.

George...woodjig

Apparently the great military and political leader, Julius Caesar knew of the concept of high volume manufacturing. He had to provide weapons and food for around 100,000 soldiers at times. Obviously, they had many techniques to make high volume production possible. The Romans were also skilled iron and bronze workers. Around 49 BC. when Caesar was crossing the Rubicon he made his famous comment "The die is cast." The Rubicon river was the defining border which meant he was crossing over and re-entering Roman territory with his massive legion to take over and rule Rome. He was returning from a battle in Gaul which took years to accomplish. In the duration of his campaign, Caesar spared no expense engineering two massive walls surrounding a large hilltop town called Alesia.

First, it is important to know, when manufacturing anything in volume, that you must first make a model, a template, or arrange jigs and gauges to locate your project. You must plan often way in advance. This is considered a strategy that can't be avoided in many cases, especially in the military, and in industry. This type of pre-planning takes special care, taking into consideration the material to be worked, and the amount of product to be produced. Caesar knew that any achievement took planning, and a methodology, a series of procedures and steps to follow. The best tools and weapons were not always the whole solution.

In a town called Alesia near central "Gaul" as France was called at the time, Caesar knew that it was essential to "cast a plan." Surely at times Rome was a fierce and uncompromising force of unchallenged power. So, in order to protect Caesar's struggling Empire, he had to secure the land and the sea from Roman enemies, otherwise trade would suffer, and grain prices, among other things would rise, causing internal strife. Roving bandits were a major reason for the military buildup when Rome was just developing into an Empire. Gaul was located on the northern border of the Roman Empire.

Alesia, in the center of Gaul was a mud and timber, walled city containing tens of thousand of armed enemies, many who raided the trade routes. Alesia also had many allies in the nearby lands to assemble should Rome ever invade. Caesar had two major problems to contend with. Knowing that he would be attacked from behind once an attempt was made to attack Alesia, Caesar had to devise a strategy. The volume of soldiers to confront was stifling by any accounts. Some scholars say their were a minimum of 80,000 in each army, possibly 250,000 total. Caesar was challenged by an immense project when he decided to build a 10 mile wall around Alesia in order to cut off all supplies to the city. His foresight led to another engineering masterpiece....a second outer wall.

After completion of the wall, Caesar built another wall to protect his legion from the outside tribes! The General was told that he would confront swarms of local armies assembling to help the army constrained inside the fort-like city. Caesar was about to construct one of the most massive military feats in history to save as many soldiers as possible. Caesar cared quite a lot about his troops, so he made an effort to build a 10-15 mile wall for them outside of the other wall built to contain Alesia. Vercingetorix, the leader inside the city made numerous attacks during construction of the walls. During the night attacks, some of his soldiers escaped into the wild to rally armies across Gaul. In spite of the massive battles to come from the outside, Caesar won with the help of freshly suited German soldiers. Vercingetorix eventually surrendered Alesia and the remainder of his army was taken back to Rome, to prisons and to labor camps. From there, Caesar marched back to Rome with an historical heroes welcome from many for his engineering and military victories.

More famous walls....
It may be interesting to know another fact about walls. The Roman Generals may have known about the Great Wall of China, thousands of miles long, built way before Caesar. They say the Great Wall was built around 221 BC by the armies of Qin, approximately 300,000 of them.

One of the most famous walls, and quite possibly the basis for much of Western literature, wisdom and history is the Wall around the City of Troy. The Greeks spent years devising a strategy to penetrate the Walls of Troy. Realizing it would be too costly to continue, they took an even stranger course of action. Like Caesar, they patiently devised an engineering wonder. You know the rest of this story, and how they were able simply open the gates from the inside.

Hadrian's Wall was built by General Hadrian around AD 122-30 was 73 miles long. That wall stretched across the Northern border of Britain. It was built to keep out northerners, mostly Picts, while Britain was occupied by Rome for around 400 years. Nowadays, huge concrete and lumber barrier walls are mostly mass produced and erected along most city inner belts. Together they must stretch quite a ways too! It all begins with lot's of planning, and an efficient, methodical and patient engineer. It's not always the best tools, but the best intelligence and information that completes the task at hand.

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