WaG! 2

Well, will you look at that? It's already time for another WaG! (What a Gem!) installment. I'll keep this vague and generic, and again place it in the context of the food industry. Suppose your chef is looking through the fridge and he sees a container full of Morel mushrooms, and then proclaims "I'm going to make a new entree using these Morels and add it to the menu!" Some would think that would be a good idea. Some would argue that it would be a good idea to make it a special for the day (to use up that extra stock), but not adding it permanently to the menu.

I would be one to argue against adding it to the daily menu. The problem with creating new products (new entree) with the sole purpose of consuming excess inventory (the Morels) is two fold. 1) You are only concerned about using the inventory, and are not giving any thought to continued sources of supply or quality specifications. 2) If you build and sell something, a customer is going to want more of them sooner or later, see Point 1. Let's suppose our chef creates an entree based off a similar entree, and only replaces Truffles with the Morels. The taste is different, and customers like it a lot. Suppose the inventory of the Morels lasts the chef several days, enough for buzz of the new entree to spread far and wide. The chef is now happy that the Morels are out of the fridge and he has more room for other ingredients, and is unaware of the popularity of his new entree.

The following week, huge parties (new customers) make reservations with the hopes of trying the new entree they have heard so much about. The orders begin to make their way into the kitchen, and now the chef is screwed because he no longer has the Morels on hand. He could try to substitute Truffles, but the customers might not like that. He could jump on the phone and call someone to get more Morels in the kitchen, but he'd only put himself in a bigger bind because he has no idea of the quality that will be delivered, or how soon they could arrive.

What a Gem!

I'm starting a new blog feature called What a Gem! What a Gem! (WaG! ?) will document all the great quotes and quips I hear throughout the day. These may be by people I work with or people that I hear out on the town. I'm sure if you keep your ears open, you'll hear a few gems of your own. So here's the first one:

I was speaking with a manufacturing engineer about a purchased part that needs to be reworked to add holes, he said, "I don't think it needs a new part number. It's not like we're going to buy it under one number then rework and stock as another. We know what we have."

The WaG! aspect of this conversation is, Yes, one should purchase something under one part number, then stock it as a new number if it is reworked and stocked. Suppose you buy a zucchini, and the whole zucchini has a part number of ZCH0123, then you slice it and put it in a container. Now if you need some zucchini and ask someone to get it, they'll grab that container of the sliced zucchini, and you might get lucky in that you wanted the sliced version, but it was only luck.

Now let's expand on this analogy. Suppose you have sliced and diced zucchini in the fridge, in addition to the whole zucchini. Now you ask for "some zucchini" and get the wrong ingredients that you needed. You correct and indicate that you need the diced zucchini. Your assistant has to open all the containers to find the right one. If the whole zucchini was ZCH0123, the sliced ones were stored as ZCH0124, and the diced were ZCH0125, you wouldn't have any troubles getting exactly what you need.

A Working Stiff Again

I finally made my return to the ranks of the employed. I started a job on the 26th of October, working for an LED company called Lighting Science Group. I landed this 3-6 month contract through Aerotek, a temp agency. I have never used them before as a client, but have used them to acquire new talent in previous positions. I never had a problem with the candidates they sent us. Now I only hope that when my contract is over, LSG will decide to take me on permanently.

It's great to be working again, but I am already missing the free time I had for my carving and painting. I hope I can find the time again. I have two bone pieces that need my attention, as well as my first landscape painting. I am just so mentally drained after work now, I don't feel like doing anything. I suppose that I don't need that creative outlet at the moment.

In Florida

Well, it have been about 3 months since I arrived, or close enough. I am still unemployed, and still actively searching. This down time has been good in some respects, as it have allowed me to do some art that I have been wanting to do for a long, long time. I have carved 5 tikis out of palm logs, and have carved about 10 pendants from bone. I attempted a painting, but my soul just wasn't into it.

I'll write more when the mood hits me.

Out of Texas!

Whew! I finally made it out of Texas. Day 3 finds me stopping near Baton Rouge, LA in a place called Hammond. I probably could have continued to drive into Mississippi, but decided to try to get a room early tonight. It seems that the last two nights I have been stuck with expensive rooms at Best Western. I guess it is only normal that the cheap rooms would fill-up first.

I just finished eating at a place called The Iron Skillet. I am glad that I have an iron gut, the "Southern" cooking shouldn't bother my system at all. I had the obligatory fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, jumbo, sweet tea, etc, etc. It has been my first real sit-down meal all trip, so I might have gorged myself a tad. I'll soak in the tub and get to bed early for sure.

Nothing really to report today beyond the monotony of Texas. I saw a lot of "moo cows" and "neigh horses", and a few "baa sheep" or goats. That is what I say as I drive by, "Hello moo cows!" or "Hello Mr. neigh horse!" Talking to animals while I am driving... that is probably a good sign that my sanity is slipping just a bit. This cannot be compared to my trip going to CA from FL however, as I was accusing road-side rocks of following me. I won't mention the white plastic bags I saw hiding in bushes and trees along the highway today. They don't think I see them, but I do...

EDIT: Remember to check Monday's post for the link to the photos.

Texas, Texas, and more Texas

Day two finds me leaving New Mexico early in the morning, only to enter the largest State in the Union (not counting Alaska), Texas. Who's idea was it to make Texas so dang wide? Can't we cut it in half, or maybe even quater it? After a couple of hours it all looks the same. After 8 hours? It still looks the same.

I will say that my trusty Garmin GPS is doing a fine job. It decided to take me off the I-10 to take-in all the sites the US-290 has to offer. Did I mention the reduced speed to 45mph in some zones? Did I mention the time-warp feeling back to 1950? Did I mention missing the annual Mud Dauber Festival and Ball in Fredericksburg, TX? Did I mention having to stay at a Best Western (and paying $140 for a room) due to said Festival and Ball? I didn't? hm, maybe I will next time I see you.

EDIT: I also got stopped my US Border Patrol. To be fair, they were stopping everyone. When I finally got to the front of the line, Wolf/Bare Johnson almost came out, but I suppressed him. I wasn't too worried, as I knew where my passport was.

Also, remember to check the prior post to see newly added photos from today.

On the Road Again...

Well, I'm heading to FL once again, but this time I think it is going to for an extended duration. I'm going home to look after my dad, and in the process I hope I find a decent job. I managed only 10hrs of driving today, had a slow start. I'm hoping I can fit 12hrs of driving tomorrow. I pulled over once it started getting dark, which put me in Lordsburg, NM. I was afraid that having my vehicle so weighted-down with my junk the headlights would blind other drivers. Not that I'm carrying that much (stuffed to the brim), but rather my lights are a bit high with nothing loaded.

Driving through Phoenix was an interesting journey. Talk about speed traps! The speed dropped from 65 to 55, then jumped up to 75 in a short span. I witnessed one car immediately pulled over as soon as the 55mph zone started. Those AZ troopers waste no time. There were also many speed cameras set-up on the I-10.

I did learn something though, my car gets much better gas mileage going 65mph than 75mph. On average I was squeezing out 175 miles on a half tank @ 75mph instead of 210 miles going 65mph. Now I have the dilemma of of driving slower and getting decent mileage or getting to FL sooner with a smaller bank account. Pictures of day one below, with others being added when I stop, so check back often.

2009 CA to FL

Corporate Branding

There is something to be said for easily recognizable product branding. Consumers love their brands. It doesn't matter if it is junk food, real food, automobiles, or electronics gadgets. Corporate Branding makes your products stand out on the shelf and help your customers find your products. Sadly, many companies, small and large, and have to learn how important branding is. Some companies need a lesson costing $35 million!
Yes, $35 million to turn great packaging into generic packaging. Case in point, Tropicana Pure Premium orange juice. Which would you rather spend $4 on? I'd rather by the tried and true packaging, an impaled orange with a red and white straw sticking out of it.

Sarcasm at its Finest!

There's nothing more I love about online forums, except for online technical forums. And there's nothing more I love about online technical forums than sarcastic replies to ambiguous posts from people that are too clueless to help themselves. The way I figure it, if someone can't form an informative and well structured post asking for help, they deserve whatever the intertubes throw at them.

One of my (recently) favorite sarcastic responses is:

Bob*, you need to navigate to the Universe>Geometry>Points menu, and click the button next to "singularity". This will bring up a dialog box asking if you want traditional or unclosed space singularities, select traditional. Then click on Geometry>Lines and select "Non-Euclidean". Hit save, then reboot the computer twice. On the 2nd reboot, the singularity should become active and you will notice the air in the room becoming a bit thin, that's normal, just sit tight and wait for the big bang. That should take care of the problem, if it doesn't, call service and ask for Stephen Hawking.

It doesn't even matter if you don't know what the original question was. To help you out though, this was a user asking about an imported IGES file in AutoCAD. Here is their original question, presented in all of its misspelled glory.

I have lines attached to point improted from IGES how can I turn them off (I think there vector lines)

*The name has been changed to protect the innocent.

What is this "Design Intent" I keep hearing about?

Design Intent is not a buzz phrase like "ideation funnel" or "value streaming." It is a real term, with a real purpose. Ok, so those other buzz phrases are real too, but I'm just not talking about them at the moment.

Design intent could be better understood simply by reversing the order of the words. Does "intended design" make any more sense to you? Design intent comes into play when using parametric solid modeling programs, such as SolidWorks, ProENGINEER or Catia. As a refresher, "parametric" refers to a model that has features with a meaningful relationship to other model features or data. It is these meaningful relationships in the CAD world, these parametric relations, that make 3D modeling so powerful to us in the engineering realm.

Back in the days of 2D CAD (way back to the early 1990s), programs could not incorporate design intent into a model. It could display geometry of a design, but the model itself did not contain any information beyond the start and end points of a line, or the diameter of a circle to construct the model. In the mid and late 1990s 3D CAD powered onto the scene, allowing the model to become a virtual representation of a design. Associated data became contained within the confines of the model file, not simply the geometry required to construct the model. These other data covered information such as density, material, and the locations and sizes of features. This data could then be retrieved and modified at any time. When these modifications were changed, due to parametric relationships, the entire model would update itself. Of course as some of us have discovered, the extent and scope of these "automatically updating" features were highly dependent on design intent.

To build a robust parametric model (that is also easily editable), some design intent in the form of forethought on how the model is to be constructed must be given. After all, designs are conceived to fulfill a purpose. Take for example a strip of metal requiring a hole in the center of its width, much like a lawnmower blade. The design mandates a hole to be drilled in the center of the part's width and length. If you model the design by dimensioning a hole half the width from the edge, it is indeed "in the middle" of metal strip, but you have ignored the design intent of the hole. If the width changes in the future your hole would still be a half the original width away from the edge, and no longer in the middle of the part. Had you placed your hole in the mid-plane of the metal strip, no matter how the width changed the hole would remain in the middle of the strip. The design intent of the hole was maintained, and all it took was a little forethought during the modeling process.

This forethought does not stop at the part level however, as parametric relations are not confined internally to part models alone. Parametric relations can span between several models, along with their associated drawings, or be driven by the top level assembly itself. For this reason, design intent is very important and should be considered early on in the design phase of every project.