On Sun, 19 Jun 2005 16:14:25 GMT, "CW" wrote:

There's still enough of us around that no how to make things to do it.
Unfortunaly, that won't be the case for too many more years. We're retiring.
A good example of the kind of thing that is wrecking the manufacturing base
is the place I presently work. Machine shop, run by an MBA. 50% of the
employees sit behind a desk. They wonder why they can't make any money. I've
been doing this since most of them were in grade school. When I have said
anything about getting more people producing and less people just collecting
a paycheck, I get put off as an old timer that just doesn't know how it's
done these days. Will be switching jobs here shortly. Let them go broke by
themselves.

I've seen that a fair amount as well. At least at the place I work
now, the guys in the office still come out and run a machine from time
to time (the company only promotes from within, and only from those
who can perform every operation from the plasma-cutters to the mills
to the powder-coating line). I'm still young, so I bemoan the state
of manufacturing quite a bit- our average new employee is in and out
in less than a week, because nobody wants to get dirty, or get a
scratch on their soft, pretty skin anymore. Being a steel fabricator
used to be a respectable job because people understood that it is
skilled work- now it seems to be regarded as inferior to being a
night-time stocker at Walmart, if some of our ex-employees are
anything to go by.

Well, time will tell. I just keep hoarding tools and knowledge for
the day when I'm going to really, truly, need them. Of course, if
that day never comes- at least I've got an excellent hobby!