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and you think youve got it hard

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In the last couple of weeks ive been working with a new mech... - Jul 05, 2006 by Slaine  

DING! ... - Jul 06, 2006 by nodlac  

#42558

and you think youve got it hard | 5 July, 2006

In the last couple of weeks ive been working with a new mechanical design engineer, i knew things were going to be difficult when i caught him putting a trial through a reflow oven using loctight thread lock to hold a smd led in place. but today i had to convince him "wood" would not be a good material to make a jig out of to go through the reflow oven.

and what does my boss do? he gives him the most important project weve got.

I dispair.

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Rob

#42560

and you think youve got it hard | 5 July, 2006

Most of the time UK companies seem to pose more of a threat to themselves than that of the offshore manufacturing exodus.

Wait 'till he puts his lunch through the oven for an oncore.

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#42561

and you think youve got it hard | 5 July, 2006

At my 2nd company, I had a design EE come down, look at his product running down the line, looks at the reflow oven... He scoffs sarcastically...and then says, "What the hells so hard about this...you're just running it through an oven."

Process and Mfgr. Engineers are the bottom rung, the pond scum, of the Engineering heirarchy. Sad, but true...

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dougs

#42562

and you think youve got it hard | 5 July, 2006

I my last company i had to battle all the time for tooling to set up jobs, i asked the product engineering manager to include extra panels in the costs for NPI to be used as reflow profiling panels, he told me they had never needed these before and that they wouldn't be doing this, when i tried to argue the case he told me not to be so f&%*ing stupid, that we couldn't ask customers for that kind of cash for tooling. when i argued the case again he said that he'd sort this once and for all and ask the engineers at our american plant, they came back saying that we should be profiling and that they put in NRE costs for profile panels, he eventually caved in but it took me hours of arguing plus the support of our american process engineers before he'd give me the time of day.

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Rob

#42563

and you think youve got it hard | 5 July, 2006

We had one mechanical engineer from a certain customer telling us we had to crop components leads so they didn't protrude through the board, as they could then come in contact with the case as the board was flush.

Had I have known then what I know now I could have used Bahrodium or magic pixie dust.

Oh yeah, if process & manufacturing engineers are bottom of the pile, where does that leave quality?

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SWAG

#42564

and you think youve got it hard | 5 July, 2006

I feel your pain - we do the same. My favorite: no extra panels or boards for profile and due to the fact that we're behind on an order, a first article of a fairly complicated board goes from 10 to an order for 500. Myself and production takes the heat for fall-out.

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#42566

and you think youve got it hard | 5 July, 2006

Almost as crazy as using precision wood and paint brushes for high speed automation.

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#42569

and you think youve got it hard | 5 July, 2006

I had one SMT process engineer using rubber bands to hold a connector on second side reflow. Even the operators told him he was nuts.

The zero stick through on leaded devices has come up several times for me. We clip leads first and pin in paste to meet this requirement.

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thats funny

#42571

and you think youve got it hard | 5 July, 2006

Must be a reference to Universal machines....

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Rob

#42578

and you think youve got it hard | 6 July, 2006

Hi Chris. would have loved to have tried PIHIR on the board, except it was single sided. Still, it would have solved the earthing issues.

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#42579

and you think youve got it hard | 6 July, 2006

DING!

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#42580

and you think youve got it hard | 6 July, 2006

lol! chain-to-chain xfer on a seq./inserter? Sounds vaguely like something I've seen before.

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Chunks

#42585

and you think youve got it hard | 6 July, 2006

Unfortunately it's not what you know, but who you know. Sounds like it in your case. Tread lightly as this guy may become your boss. It happened to me. New guy comes in, couldn't tell the "red stuff" from the "gray stuff" (adhesive / paste in case he's reading), made a bunch of mistakes, stepped on his d*ck the whole time. BUT he was connected and I soon was reporting to him. The only thing you can do is enjoy the ride. We used to have to turn in monthly reports, then meet with upper management to discuss the reports. All this guy did was copy and paste all our report together and put his name on it. You can guess some of my reports started to sound like Moon Mans fancy new metals and processes. Ahhhhh, watching him try to explain his reports to upper management every month makes me smile. I do believe his stutter became permanent due to this.

So, let this dummy burn up wooden fixtures, get his zipper stuck in the wave and all the other wonderful things these guys are capable of. Let him do it and take pictures for us. I wish I had. Just remember, if he is connected they cannot get rid of him, they can only move him. And I seriously doubt if your boss will demote him. If he does become your boss, copy the following down and use it accordingly:

�We will try to initiate the description of the criteria for requirements by developing a framework for the application architecture consistent with the planning corridor specified in our strategic initiative. Once bilateral goals are established, the engineer continues to undertake reinvention activities and new initiatives, we recognize the need to establish a framework to provide the necessary structure for optimal interactions and complementarily of the various reinvention activities. The framework delineates four major goals for reinvention: (1) maximize scientific opportunities through optimal use of resources; (2) enhance engineering interactions with the scientific community; (3) clarify and streamline decision-making processes; and (4) focus internal operations on outcomes and results. Each of these goals are further developed into specific reinvention objectives, and the plan is to use these goals and objectives as guide-posts as the engineer moves forward with the myriad of reinvention projects�

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Dick Koriska

#42614

and you think youve got it hard | 8 July, 2006

I was once like that, worked for a major telecom manufacturer, couldn't design my way out of a paper bag, and now I'm making wooden pallets.

My latest project is analysing the forces required to drive a nail into a plywood wooden pallet.

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Raul O'Ronnoc

#42631

and you think youve got it hard | 10 July, 2006

Dick, please get back to work and stop hanging around a forum that is not related to the pallet industry.

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#42638

and you think youve got it hard | 10 July, 2006

QE's are the guys that sit in meetings asking the process guys --- "Uhhmmmm....my pie chart here says that we have 11 solder shorts on U1 for the week. WHAT'RE YOU GONNA DO ABOUT IT?"

Unfortunately, most QE's dress nice, are tall, have gelled slicked-back hair, have fancy fake glasses, wear nice slacks and/or khaki's and wear shirts that never get dirty. Management loves them, whilst they still see the dirty process guys as the lower dregs of Engineering society.

The way I see them? Failed engineers who live by textbook theory, 6-sigma, and mission statements. They can't design their way out of a paper bag, and have probably never turned a wrench in their lives. That's why management loves them! As Rodney Dangerfield says in the movie "Back to School" -- "They really tell it as it ain't."

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KEN

#42701

and you think youve got it hard | 12 July, 2006

Ah yes Mechanical Engineers. My previous company hired one Fresh out of College. Ink was still wet on his B.S. degree when he entered the shop.

I passed by his desk. He had a CAD drawing on the monitor which he was feverously working on. It showed rows and columns of varrying sized circles. I asked what he was working on (as the drawing was very impressive and detailed). He proceeds to tell me how the Mfg. line is mixing up screw types and he is going to develop a tool that allows the screws to tested for thread sizes. I said hold on a sec. Went over to my desk and grabbed a half dozen thread checkers I've collected over the last 17 years and asked if these would work for him.

Stunned and excited, he actually asked me where I had them made. I replied "Ace Hardware".

Coffee anyone?

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Don

#42702

and you think youve got it hard | 13 July, 2006

Haha, I have so many of these stories... where to start? My favourite was a few years back, we had a new mechanical engineer fresh out of university. As a part of his new role, he was purchasing tools & equipment for the maintenance workshop.

After almost 12 months of ordering large quantities of various sizes & lengths of RHS (rectangular hollow section) steel, he asked the guys in maintenance when they were going to get some "Left Hand Side".

The maintenance guys looked at him like he was from another planet and broke up laughing when they finally realised what he was talking about.

Needless to say, the boys had loads of fun with him after that, placing orders for long weights, candy-striped paint, left handed screwdrivers etc.

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machine designer

#42710

and you think youve got it hard | 13 July, 2006

And soon enough all of those management types who don't understand production will have sub'ed out our work and be saying to themselves... see that wasn't so hard was it?

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