Maintenance Engineer / Trainer:
This is the job I would create for myself based on my experience, skills, and abilities. I would work in an industrial maintenance department, reporting to maintenance manager. I would help solve on going technical problems that have defeated the frontline maintenance technicians. I would be a major part of the team developing PM processes for the plant. Using my advanced computer skills, I would administer the maintenance management software and work to make the maintenance parts database user-friendly for the techs. Process downtime is often multiplied when techs spend more time searching for parts than they spend on actual repairs. This is correctable if approached with understanding of the needs of the techs instead of the clerks.
I would produce documentation (both print and online) that would help the technicians be more accurate and effective when diagnosing problems. I would promote safety in the work place with specific real-world rules and real classes (not “canned” meet-the-requirements videos). I would hold classes to expand technicians’ knowledge about the specific equipment in the plant and how to use the troubleshooting skills they don’t realize they have. As part of the ongoing training I would use my web design skills to build web-based troubleshooting aids and web based manuals available at all times to technicians. I would be available to step in as a team leader on temporary basis when needed.
Along with administration of the maintenance management software I could produce regular reports showing the improvement in the team’s effectiveness.
I would be available in a consulting role to engineering and purchasing departments to help write specifications for purchases of supplies and equipment as well as capital investments.
If you have a place in your organization for this type of person, contact me and let’s discuss it.
Wyo_Knott
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Votes
The important thing to remember when you are exposed to any political ad or hear comments made by political analyst tied to either party is the way any statistic or fact s works. One recent ad declares that John McCain voted with Bush 90% of the time. What is not reported is that any vote in congress is part of some negotiation, deal, or compromise. Republican senators are pressured by can be presented in a way to promote a particular point of view.
I admit I am a Barak Obama supporter but I am going to use an Obama campaign to demonstrate the way lawmakers are encouraged to vote along party lines and not vote their conscience or the perspective of their constituents. Votes on a particular bill may be the result of a behind-the-scenes bargain with another voting block for support for another bill.
In an ideal world McCain would have the chance to explain honestly and in detail any vote that is considered “with Bush”. We would likely find that most of these votes were driven by pressure from the party as well as by McCain’s own opinions. If his opinions were truly inline with Bush’s then the point of the ad is valid, otherwise the ad is misleading.
Naturally, as humans we all try to put a positive spin when explaining our actions and politicians are more experienced at this than common citizens. At least if you ever hear a politician speak frankly you can analyze his words by determining his personal spin. Thirty-second spots on TV are designed for maximum impact requiring no thought on the part of the viewer. We must all use our own minds and not rely on someone else to do our thinking.
Wyo_Knott
I admit I am a Barak Obama supporter but I am going to use an Obama campaign to demonstrate the way lawmakers are encouraged to vote along party lines and not vote their conscience or the perspective of their constituents. Votes on a particular bill may be the result of a behind-the-scenes bargain with another voting block for support for another bill.
In an ideal world McCain would have the chance to explain honestly and in detail any vote that is considered “with Bush”. We would likely find that most of these votes were driven by pressure from the party as well as by McCain’s own opinions. If his opinions were truly inline with Bush’s then the point of the ad is valid, otherwise the ad is misleading.
Naturally, as humans we all try to put a positive spin when explaining our actions and politicians are more experienced at this than common citizens. At least if you ever hear a politician speak frankly you can analyze his words by determining his personal spin. Thirty-second spots on TV are designed for maximum impact requiring no thought on the part of the viewer. We must all use our own minds and not rely on someone else to do our thinking.
Wyo_Knott
Small businesses hire the people in the lowest level of the economic structure. The person making less then $10.00 per hour does not have any income to put into economic growth. The small business owner (My definition of small business is a business with <$100000 per year net income for the owner). It is these people who most need to protection of the government to assure the businesses do not fall back on slave-like employee treatment and abuse.
Small and medium businesses have a certain responsibility to the citizens of this country who provide them with the opportunity to be business owners. The business owner with the lawn service business and three employees is out there working hard with his crew. He doesn’t need oppressive taxation but the three employees must be protected from the tendency of business men to make maximum profit at the expense of others. The influx of Mexican-born general laborers for these low-level jobs and the hesitation of the government to control this influx serves to prove the tendency toward employee abuse and the government’s intentional blindness toward it.
We have the minimal employee protections in place already. We must be sure the government has the means and the will to help when needed. The business owner can pay a small tax if his employees’ average income is below a certain level. This helps the government pay for the support for the people who cannot afford their own health insurance at the wage they’re paid. There is a wage level where the ability of a person to save a portion of his income into a 401-K plan does not exist. What if a business pays well enough that the employees as a group save a certain percentage into retirement plans? The company part of the Social Security tax could be reduced. A novel idea: rewarding businesses for being fair to employees.
Even poor people have a right to a minimal level of life. They don’t have a right to a private beach house or a 55-foot yacht but they have the same rights as the business owner to pursue these things. Keeping people in their place by underpaying them for their work could be construed as a rights violation. I do not think it is but there is a very thin line that must be patrolled by socially conscious people.
Here’s a thought: If the annual net income of a business owner exceeds ten times the average wage and benefits package of his employees he should pay a small excess profits tax. This same rule could apply to the top executives of larger companies. It is just the cost of supporting the American Government that empowers the business to exist and grow.
Wy0_Knott
Small and medium businesses have a certain responsibility to the citizens of this country who provide them with the opportunity to be business owners. The business owner with the lawn service business and three employees is out there working hard with his crew. He doesn’t need oppressive taxation but the three employees must be protected from the tendency of business men to make maximum profit at the expense of others. The influx of Mexican-born general laborers for these low-level jobs and the hesitation of the government to control this influx serves to prove the tendency toward employee abuse and the government’s intentional blindness toward it.
We have the minimal employee protections in place already. We must be sure the government has the means and the will to help when needed. The business owner can pay a small tax if his employees’ average income is below a certain level. This helps the government pay for the support for the people who cannot afford their own health insurance at the wage they’re paid. There is a wage level where the ability of a person to save a portion of his income into a 401-K plan does not exist. What if a business pays well enough that the employees as a group save a certain percentage into retirement plans? The company part of the Social Security tax could be reduced. A novel idea: rewarding businesses for being fair to employees.
Even poor people have a right to a minimal level of life. They don’t have a right to a private beach house or a 55-foot yacht but they have the same rights as the business owner to pursue these things. Keeping people in their place by underpaying them for their work could be construed as a rights violation. I do not think it is but there is a very thin line that must be patrolled by socially conscious people.
Here’s a thought: If the annual net income of a business owner exceeds ten times the average wage and benefits package of his employees he should pay a small excess profits tax. This same rule could apply to the top executives of larger companies. It is just the cost of supporting the American Government that empowers the business to exist and grow.
Wy0_Knott
Even basic statistics cannot predict how a presidential candidate will act once in office. No pre-written and rehearsed speech will reveal the candidate’s heart and soul. No thirty-second paid ad or a 15 second sound bite from a speech shines a light on the future seen by the candidate.
In the end we know less about a presidential candidate than we know about the neighbor two doors down or the upstairs apartment. Our votes reflect our opinions that have been shaped by our experiences and colored by the political ads and sound bites of news reports.
In the voting booth, to a large part, we vote our personal, recent history. If your recent experience has been some what positive you may vote for more of the same. If you have recently lived a troubled recent history you will tend to vote for a change. How you perceive the candidates position on change is the actual guide for your vote.
Wyo_Knott
In the end we know less about a presidential candidate than we know about the neighbor two doors down or the upstairs apartment. Our votes reflect our opinions that have been shaped by our experiences and colored by the political ads and sound bites of news reports.
In the voting booth, to a large part, we vote our personal, recent history. If your recent experience has been some what positive you may vote for more of the same. If you have recently lived a troubled recent history you will tend to vote for a change. How you perceive the candidates position on change is the actual guide for your vote.
Wyo_Knott
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