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13 Aug |
Pressure’s off for another year! Day to Day Life, Edie, Off Topic
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We made it through our AS9100 audit at work, much easier than I had expected.
This has always been the most stressful time of the year for me, so it shouldn’t take much imagination to understand how relieved I am the audit is over, and I can finally get back to my normal routine.
Anywaze, Edie came across some pictures of us when we lived in Ohio, which was over 30 years ago. I got a big kick out of looking at them, and they helped to relieve some of the tension of the past week, so I thought I’d share a few of them with the rest of the world.
It’s hard to imagine we were ever that young.
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6 Aug |
A rough start to the week, but….. Day to Day Life
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It’s one thing trying to squeeze a week, or even two weeks worth of work, into a couple of hours during the day, but it’s another story trying to squeeze six months of work into two days. Let me explain.
As part of my job as the Director of Quality/Metallurgy for the company I work for, and the part I hate the most, simply because it is something I have no training in, and little experience with, I am responsible for the companies adherence to certain quality standards, principally AS9100.
And every year about this time we are due for our annual audit, by an outside registrar who we pay dearly for the privilege. We do this, because virtually all our customers require we maintain our AS9100 registration, as a condition for doing business with them, and as an indication of our commitment to producing a quality, cost effective product.
For the most part, it’s not that difficult to comply with all the requirements, but there are a lot of, what in mixed company I like to call non value added requirements, which are difficult to maintain on a daily basis, especially when you consider they really are non value added.
So consequently I/we (the company) spends the week prior to the audit, trying to get caught up with everything we were supposed to keep up with during the entire year. And such was the case with the past two days.
Fortunately I have some great people working for me, and the majority of the other employees have finally come to understand the importance of complying with these requirements, regardless of their feelings about them. In addition, we have hired an AS9100 consultant, who has been able to guide us [especially me] in how to more easily comply with these requirements.
Still, old habits are hard to break (never do today what you can put off until tomorrow), and this is a stressful time of the year me, but after working two full days, getting all our ducks in order, I think we are more prepared for our audit next Tuesday and Wednesday, than we have been for any other audit we have gone through in the past.
So I’m taking the rest of the week off, to do some bike riding, and forget about all this non value added stuff until next week.
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10 Jul |
And yet another bad day Day to Day Life
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I knew I should have stayed home today. Of course that wouldn’t have made any difference, but at least I wouldn’t have to make the drive home dwelling on this problem at work, and how to resolve it.
And to think I almost had the problem solved, until I realized I forgot how to properly calculate reduction of area. Plus I already reheat treated the parts once, which is what I think caused the problem in the first place, so that option is out.
And to top it all off, Becky decided to sleep in this morning!
Oh well, now I’ve really got my work cut out for me deciding what to do.
Maybe I’ll just retire.
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10 Jun |
I’m such a dedicated employee Day to Day Life
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So much so, I actually went to work this morning, despite the fact my co-workers told me I didn’t need to, and in addition to the fact I have to come in tomorrow for an expected, but forgotten about customer visit. I was thinking I would tie up some loose ends, and then be able to devote all my attentions to the customer tomorrow.
I didn’t plan on riding this morning (opting instead to race this evening), so I wouldn’t miss out on anything by going to work.
Of course, I should have listened to my co-workers, as there was barely enough work to keep me busy for 30 minutes, and not bothered making that commute. I could have easily waited until tomorrow, and completed everything while the customer was on a tour of the plant.
Fortunately traffic was unusually light, even though I left a half hour later than usual (5:30 AM instead of 5 AM), plus I managed to get a few necessary things accomplished, which I had been putting off for quite a while, and I was still able to leave around 9:45 AM to go home.
Anyways, as I was driving home, I was thinking how lucky I am to be employed where I am. There are very few other companies, and co-workers, that would treat any employee as well as I have been treated, since my diagnosis.
So in a bout of emotion, I thought I would take this opportunity to give a special thanks to Becky, Wayne, and even Bud, just to name 3.