Good morning!!!!

[PJSprog]

Raise your wages folks and attract more help.

I sure wish it was that easy, Drew. Unfortunately, it's not.

Giant pays a good salary. My neighbor the plumber has a hard time hiring people who will work. The govt handouts are too high.

... and this is the reason why. My employer has been having trouble getting people to come to work since the additional "assistance" started. It's next to impossible to find people willing to actually come to work in the first place. They literally make almost twice as much on the seemingly endless enhanced unemployment. Many of the ones who do won't work a full 40 hour week. We raised the hourly pay of our skilled positions by $2/hour, and nothing changed. Every time the government sends out a "stimulus" check, half of our workforce stays home for the next week or two.

Every (no longer)fast food place in our area has one of those signs on their drive thru menu boards requesting customers to be patient, as they can't get anyone to come to work either. Frankly, all of this "free" money is making people lazy (and, of course, it's not free either).

Eh ... that's enough time on the soapbox.

 

[RoyJackson]

... and this is the reason why. My employer has been having trouble getting people to come to work since the additional "assistance" started. It's next to impossible to find people willing to actually come to work in the first place. They literally make almost twice as much on the seemingly endless enhanced unemployment. Many of the ones who do won't work a full 40 hour week. We raised the hourly pay of our skilled positions by $2/hour, and nothing changed. Every time the government sends out a "stimulus" check, half of our workforce stays home for the next week or two.

Every (no longer)fast food place in our area has one of those signs on their drive thru menu boards requesting customers to be patient, as they can't get anyone to come to work either. Frankly, all of this "free" money is making people lazy (and, of course, it's not free either).

Eh ... that's enough time on the soapbox.

I know you're a quality manager...what does your company produce?
IIRC, it's automotive and that's a tough racket....

My company...a large international aerospace supplier (not an OEM). The facility I work at makes fan blades. I'm a QE here, but my main focus is on Quality Systems (which I wish I'd never heard of, sometimes)

 

[Looking4new]

Rs, PM

 

[sodamo]

68°F and no rain.

Guys won, lead series 4-2.

Ophthalmologist appointment this afternoon. A bit unusual as we try to avoid afternoon appointments. I’ll get some project time before.

Need to make arrangements to borrow friend’s Sheetrock lift.

Prayers for all
Be safe
Have a great day

 

[rswyan]

RS those tracks look like a vehicle pulling a heavy trailer (darker inside tracks - sunk lower) making a turnaround out of your curve in the road.

That's an interesting observation ... I found the tracks kind of mystifying.

The one thing that still doesn't jive though is that there are no indications that a turnaround was actually completed. No disturbed gravel, no additional tracks on the lawn, no "second bite" for maneuvering to complete the turn and make it out.

It's almost like the vehicle(s ?) pulled up to where the front wheels went down in the hole, tried to back up ... and then simply just disappeared, leaving no trace the they were successful in making it out.

A real mystery.

Also Drew, between Dec. 14 and April 23, there were 3,544 deaths reported to the CDC’s Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System [VAERS], along with 12,619 serious injuries.

While those numbers might appear to be rather dramatic, perhaps engendering an emotional response for some, they really aren't.

And for what should be fairly obvious reasons - assuming one is willing to do a little digging.

The vaccination should be kept to a personal decision. Each person should decide for themselves if they want to take the risk. People need to remember this before making vaccinations a requirement or treating unvaccinated people different.

Disagree.

In 1976 during the Swine Flu pandemic the U.S. attempted to vaccinate 55 million Americans, but at that point the shot caused about 500 cases of paralysis and 25 deaths.
The program was killed, at 25 deaths.

But of course that particular vaccine was rushed/pushed (possibly for reasons relating to a re-election campaign) for a pandemic that never happened ... AND used a live virus.

Medical science and our knowledge - although admittedly still incomplete - has come a very long way in the past 45 years.

 

[PJSprog]

I know your a quality manager...what does your company produce?
IIRC, it's automotive and that's a tough racket....

My company...a large international aerospace supplier (not an OEM). The facility I work at makes fan blades. I'm a QE here, but my main focus is on Quality Systems (which I wish I'd never heard of, sometimes)

We are a tube fabrication company. We have two main focuses here; one is tube bending, and one is stackable/returnable rack production. Most business on the tube bending side comes from the agricultural and lawn care industries. We bend a lot of steel handles and frame parts for a lot of well-known companies that get a lot of talk time on these forums. We also do a fair amount of business with the railroad tank car industry. The rack side gets most of our business from Tier1 and Tier 2 automotive suppliers and one of the big box home improvement stores.

It's been difficult to find experienced CNC machine operators. Most of the time, we just try to find competent people we can train. Finding welders is not as easy as we'd like it to be either. Most seem to be able to weld just well enough to pass the initial weld test, and their work over time reflects their work ethics. Many just know how to melt metal together. Reading a tape measure seems to be a rare trait, almost as rare as someone who can read a blueprint. These are things we can teach, but they have to be here, and they have to be willing to learn. Many just are not. They just want enough of a paycheck to get by until next week.

I spent a couple of years working for another division of the aerospace company you work for here in St. Louis (composites and metal structures for the F/A-18 program, among others). So, I completely understand wishing you'd never heard of Quality Systems. I have come to understand why many of my quality brethren have defected over to the dark side (production). QA is a mostly thankless job.

 

[rswyan]

Unless it's physically bent (you'd see a kink, I wager), it probably variation in the manufacturing process. Not that this should be an excuse or defense of sloppy drilling/tube bending though

I don't see any kink.

The one side of the axle measures 25 5/8" from the top of the hopper to the center line of the axle, the other side measures 27".

That's nearly an inch and half difference ... which could make the unit prone to tipping, depending on which way it was facing when you traversed across a hill ... and doesn't even begin to account for the front-to-back variation of the axle placement ... .

A couple of pictures to illustrate:

First, using the normal lens setting on my iPhone:

Second, using the wide-angle lens:

Can't really get an pics of the front-to-back variation, due to the gearbox obscuring the view.

My unit has one leg that sets slightly different than the other. Unit functions fine though...

Interesting.

Personally, while I'm certainly no engineer, I would think that the variations I've described/shown, would make the unit inclined to bind and place unnecessary stress on components, such as the gearbox.

I have seen at least one report of at least one wheel locking up and being drug across the grass when it was empty (no weight) that would seem to indicate binding.

 

[sodamo]

Also Drew, between Dec. 14 and April 23, there were 3,544 deaths reported to the CDC’s Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System [VAERS], along with 12,619 serious injuries. The vaccination should be kept to a personal decision. Each person should decide for themselves if they want to take the risk. People need to remember this before making vaccinations a requirement or treating unvaccinated people different.
In 1976 during the Swine Flu pandemic the U.S. attempted to vaccinate 55 million Americans, but at that point the shot caused about 500 cases of paralysis and 25 deaths.
The program was killed, at 25 deaths.

Careful Don. Yes, that many people dies after getting vaccine, BUT how how died caused by the vaccine is unknown. I believe this is a self reported database, not a medical study.

Did you know that of 10,000 people that died 99% of them were breathing up until moment of death? Yet there has been no definitive study as to why these people died at last breath. Breathing can be, must be very dangerous.

But I also agree about the vax being choice - Take it or don’t. Then again taking any of the Covid benefits has also been a choice and should be consistent. Don’t want the vax, don’t accept the money. Be true to yourself.

 

[toppop52]

some of us had grandparents who immigrated through Ellis Island.
My grandfather "came through" in 1901 and knew instinctively that speaking
better English would help him succeed in business. As he did. And he pounded that lesson into
his sons and I was sure downhill of that family lesson. Take pride in your country and learn the language.
My Mother's New England side went back to Miles Standish so that concern wasn't all DNA apparently.

Part of the desire to fit in was likely due to wanting to get rid of the "Jewish accent" of their European home area.
Made even more poignant for my family learning that all the remaining family who didn't come over
died in the gas chambers in Belzec. Not like advertising your faith made anyone in my family comfortable...
Religious freedom is really, really important. Something we can't take for granted.

RS, I think you need a camera system there, catch these guys turfing your lawn.
Looks like they could have K turned there, maybe a double, but doable. Why drive on a guy's lawn?
Particularly one that has had a great deal of care lately and looked nice.

Ted, exactly. They need to pay these people 20 bucks an hour plus benefits and raise their prices accordingly.
Then they would get applicants showing up. And maybe even getting off the dole. Sounds like a fine ending.

Which means everyone else had to raise their prices, so you end up with net zero and high inflation.

 

[daugen]

I sure wish it was that easy, Drew. Unfortunately, it's not.
So what will work?
Don't we have a big infrastructure program coming?
When do we say working equals eating? As well as those minor things like personal self respect.
or will we continue:
Money for Nothing and the Chicks for Free
had to look that one up and nope not going to quote the rest.

we need to solve transportation and daycare issues for many low income people.
The truly lazy need a fairly firm smack of reality.