Three Fantasies.

[RANT]

This first is “Just In Time” deliveries, and the “Global Economy” and the third is “Trickle Down Economy”

In the late 70s and the early 80s a new business rage started all the companies CEOs started jumping on the band wagon well now it is biting us in the ass.

We got bit by the “Global Economy” when a resistor manufacturer move to Mexico and then again when a circuit breaker manufacturer moved their production facilities to China.

There was a lot of Tribal Knowledge” that was lost with the moves.

The resistor company made ultra precision resistors, we used 0.25% resistors and paid a good penny for them. Well when we were building the assemblies and my department tested them they passed with flying colors and they then went in to stocks. Months later when they were installed in another assembly they were out of tolerance! We trace the problem to the resistor company move to Mexico they left out of steps to make sure that the resistors stayed intolerance, it cost us millions of dollars. Last I heard the lawyers were fighting it out.

The circuit breakers passed all the manufacturer tests to verify that they tripped when they were suppose to trip. We installed them in a 1000 MW power plant and then the complaints started coming in, the South Korea plant kept shutting down, now when a 1,000 Megawatt plant shuts down it costs a million dollars a day while it is shut down. Once again we pay extra to have the breakers certified* that they meet the manufacturer’s specs. What my test department traced the problem to was the manufacturer never tested that the circuit breakers would not trip at rated current. Once again it was in the hands of the lawyers, the power company sued us and we sued the circuit breaker company.

Now it JIT that is causing the nightmare.

Just walking down the aisles in the grocery store shows how JIT and the “Global Economy” is casing us empty selves.

Back in the 80s when JIT grained traction I thought it was a really dumb idea. What happens if there a disruption in the supply chain? I was think a fire at the manufacturer’s plant or a hurricane, not a plague or a war.

Musk says Tesla's new car factories 'losing billions of dollars'
Reuters
By Hyunjoo Jin
June 22, 2022


June 22 (Reuters) - Tesla Inc's (TSLA.O) new car factories in Texas and Berlin are "losing billions of dollars" as they struggle to increase production because of a shortage of batteries and China port issues, Chief Executive Elon Musk said in an interview published on Wednesday.

"Both Berlin and Austin factories are gigantic money furnaces right now. Okay? It's really like a giant roaring sound, which is the sound of money on fire," Musk said in an interview with Tesla Owners of Silicon Valley, an official Tesla-recognized club, in Austin, Texas, on May 31.

[...]

Musk said Tesla's Texas factory produces a "tiny" number of cars because of challenges in boosting production of its new "4680" batteries and as tools to make its conventional 2170 batteries are "stuck in port in China." read more "This is all going to get fixed real fast, but it requires a lot of attention," he said.

He said its Berlin factory is in a "slightly better position" because it started with using the traditional 2170 batteries for cars built there.

Um… why did he build his plant in China?

To save a few bucks? Well now it is biting him the ass.

Maybe made in America and having a 60 day inventory like they did in the old days makes sense now?

*Used used to do all the acceptance testing of the circuit breakers but when we were bought out our new owners in Japan decided to let our suppliers do the testing instead of us. Our tests required that the breakers hold the rated current for one hour, the manufacture's tests didn't. Our new owners by saving a dollar it cost them millions.

[/RANT]