YMTC - Manufacturing

[Jack Jones]

It’s not that we don’t have the time to teach first principals; it’s more that we (FIRST) don’t need to. Why should we re-invent the classroom? That’s not our job. That stuff is comparatively easy. It’s all down in black and white in the textbooks.

I have seen many book smart engineers who can’t turn a wrench without reciting “leftie-loosie”- never had an original thought - and can’t get beyond what they’ve been taught. I don’t want any part of producing a fresh batch of them.

I want my kids to learn how to get the job done, and to get it done right, rather than to show that it worked on paper. I’d like to think I know more about momentum and impulse than Tiger Woods. But do I really? We have engineers at TARDEC who’ve been taught all there is to know about metal fatigue and shear. So, explain to me why it's the guys on the shop floor who know when a part will fail. There’s a difference between learning and knowing. The latter is where I choose to invest the six weeks we have.

But this tread is supposed about manufacturing rules. Isn't it a shame when the rules work to paint us into a corrner?