02-06-2013, 04:00 PM
Hi,
David mentions Japanese motorcycles. I assembled some of the very first Honda CB72's to land in our country and what a revelation they were compared to the classic British thumpers. Electric start and indicators together with a unit construction crankcase which split horizontally eliminating the oil patch on the drive.
Even with these Japanese bikes flooding the market how long did it take for British manufacturers to catch up let alone come up with anything as ground breaking? Two of my last motorcycles were a Norton 750cc Atlas and a BSA 650cc Lightning both bikes absolute rubbish; the Norton would break its piston skirts every time it hit 110mph and the Lightning was dire to ride due to lots of vibration which used to destroy light bulb filaments with ease. The best bikes by far I owned were a pair of BMW R75/5's; one secondhand the other new in the early seventies.
I too used to be subjected to training courses and seminars the final training course being a weeks intensive Kaizen course. I received a certificate and polo shirt at the end of the course. The day after completing the course I was in a meeting and when I mentioned Kaizen I was told by a guy higher up the food chain that Kaizen didn't apply in my departments. I tore up my certificate and gave away my Kaizen polo shirt to a guy who later committed suicide. Happy days at work (NOT).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaizen
Being a practical person my biggest assets are my head and my hands used together to resolve problems; when faced with cutting 45 gear wheels and not owning a milling machine; dividing head or Involute cutter I cut the gears on my worn out Myford lathe whilst the lathe had a broken head-stock. I had never cut a gear in my life before and it was simply a case of find a solution or don't get the gears. This approach has served me well over many years and I always found that too many people involved in a problem tended to resolve nothing.
During the Kaizen course there must have been around twenty of us attending; one task was to attach three little stars to a small plastic cup in a certain position and to add three different coloured paper clips into each cup; I forget the exact details but the room was set up like a production line and I was at the start issuing the components with other tables arranged to add various components until the cups were finished and passed through inspection. After I had issued about five lots of components I ground to a halt because of blockages along the line; how on earth could such a simple process become so difficult?
To cut a long story short only two guys were needed to do the entire process whilst completing many more cups than a whole room full of guys could produce. The idea was good and obviously worked but what a pity shortly after production was transferred to Poland and India. Britain could still lead the world if everyone worked together in harmony and more importantly took pride in what they did.
Soap box now dismantled but I'm now glad to be retired away from active conflict.
Kind regards, Col.
David mentions Japanese motorcycles. I assembled some of the very first Honda CB72's to land in our country and what a revelation they were compared to the classic British thumpers. Electric start and indicators together with a unit construction crankcase which split horizontally eliminating the oil patch on the drive.
Even with these Japanese bikes flooding the market how long did it take for British manufacturers to catch up let alone come up with anything as ground breaking? Two of my last motorcycles were a Norton 750cc Atlas and a BSA 650cc Lightning both bikes absolute rubbish; the Norton would break its piston skirts every time it hit 110mph and the Lightning was dire to ride due to lots of vibration which used to destroy light bulb filaments with ease. The best bikes by far I owned were a pair of BMW R75/5's; one secondhand the other new in the early seventies.
I too used to be subjected to training courses and seminars the final training course being a weeks intensive Kaizen course. I received a certificate and polo shirt at the end of the course. The day after completing the course I was in a meeting and when I mentioned Kaizen I was told by a guy higher up the food chain that Kaizen didn't apply in my departments. I tore up my certificate and gave away my Kaizen polo shirt to a guy who later committed suicide. Happy days at work (NOT).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaizen
Being a practical person my biggest assets are my head and my hands used together to resolve problems; when faced with cutting 45 gear wheels and not owning a milling machine; dividing head or Involute cutter I cut the gears on my worn out Myford lathe whilst the lathe had a broken head-stock. I had never cut a gear in my life before and it was simply a case of find a solution or don't get the gears. This approach has served me well over many years and I always found that too many people involved in a problem tended to resolve nothing.
During the Kaizen course there must have been around twenty of us attending; one task was to attach three little stars to a small plastic cup in a certain position and to add three different coloured paper clips into each cup; I forget the exact details but the room was set up like a production line and I was at the start issuing the components with other tables arranged to add various components until the cups were finished and passed through inspection. After I had issued about five lots of components I ground to a halt because of blockages along the line; how on earth could such a simple process become so difficult?
To cut a long story short only two guys were needed to do the entire process whilst completing many more cups than a whole room full of guys could produce. The idea was good and obviously worked but what a pity shortly after production was transferred to Poland and India. Britain could still lead the world if everyone worked together in harmony and more importantly took pride in what they did.
Soap box now dismantled but I'm now glad to be retired away from active conflict.
Kind regards, Col.
Happiness is a wreck of a cabinet to restore.
