Lateral thinking, anyone?

[pwdrive]

Ok, here's an old problem, some will know the answer straight away:

A bloke turns up for his new job on thursday and left on thursday, he worked three days, how come?

Lawrence. EDIT: If you know the answer then wait and see if we get some incorrect answers first, strictly no Googling etc.

[pwdrive]

The Trinitron transformed the CRT business.

Lawrence.

[Joe]

Again, though, it was a refinement of an existing device.

Of course this in itself is a skill and there are plenty of Great Inventors who weren't themselves innovative: they had a gift for spotting potential in other peoples ideas. Goerge Jackson Churchward and Edison spring to mind.

- Joe

[Nick]

Ok, here's an old problem, some will know the answer straight away:

A bloke turns up for his new job on thursday and left on thursday, he worked three days, how come?

Lawrence. EDIT: If you know the answer then wait and see if we get some incorrect answers first, strictly no Googling etc.

He's a part-timer, working one day a week - left after the third week?

[pwdrive]

Yes it was but I would say it was a new invention/system, the Trinitron also meant the CRT screen was flat in the vertical plane which was quite something as was the extra brightness, the Trinitron revolutionized the setting up of the CRT compared to the shadowmask and all it's necessary complex convergence circuits and controls etc.

Lawrence.

[pwdrive]

Ok, here's an old problem, some will know the answer straight away:

A bloke turns up for his new job on thursday and left on thursday, he worked three days, how come?

Lawrence. EDIT: If you know the answer then wait and see if we get some incorrect answers first, strictly no Googling etc.

He's a part-timer, working one day a week - left after the third week?

Nope.

Lawrence.

[Retired]

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.

[Tedzed1]

Ok, here's an old problem, some will know the answer straight away:

A bloke turns up for his new job on thursday and left on thursday, he worked three days, how come?

Was it a bank holiday?

[pwdrive]

Ok, here's an old problem, some will know the answer straight away:

A bloke turns up for his new job on thursday and left on thursday, he worked three days, how come?

Was it a bank holiday?

Nope.

Lawrence.

[AlanBeckett]

But David, you specifically said 'Inventive'. The Walkman wasn't an Invention in the usual sense, and as Joe says it was Philips who did the work, although it was one of several competing formats at the time.
The origins of the Japanese car industry really was British cars. Post war we were the biggest Car manufacturers in the world. The fact that we managed to make a mess of it is History.
The Transistor and the FET are examples of 'Inventions'. The fact that the Japanese were bright enough to realise that they could use them to make cheap Radios for the masses doesn't make them Inventors.
I freely admit that I've never invented anything. However, as Al says, many times I've looked at another design and thought 'I can improve on that'. As an old Salesman I knew said 'The problem with being a Pioneer is you get arrows in your back.'

Alan