Fought Engineering Consulting LLC

Just driving home the other day and this was parked in a yard with a “For Sale” sign on it. I told my wife that my first job was working in the engineering department at RUPP Industries, and had worked on developing this tricycle. She said “Don’t you want to go back and check it out?”

Yep!

RUPP tricycle side view

RUPP Tricycle rear view

I started at RUPP as a mechanical drafter, part time, in a sort of work study program that the vocational school had set up with the local companies. I had been trained at the Pioneer Joint Vocational School in Shelby, in the Design and Drafting 2 year program, junior and senior year of high school. When I graduated they hired me full time.

It was so cool. I was working on the development of snowmobiles, four wheeler’s, and then I was assigned to work on the tricycle development. They let us “borrow” these toys to take home for the weekend. I was assigned to work with one of the main design engineers. He was creating this from scratch. It was really fun participating in the design and drafting function, with all the required documentation. These were all hand drawn, multiple sheet layouts. They trained me in lofting in order to properly document the shroud. That is the same technique used on boat hulls. I had the opportunity to work along side and learn from a great group of engineers and designers. And, at the same time demonstrate that I could contribute to the overall design effort. It was a great place to start out. I am sincerely grateful.

And, here is a link my wife found about the RUPP Tricycle…

http://www.hemmings.com/hmn/stories/2012/10/01/hmn_feature22.html

Yep, my first real job. And, here it is 42 years later…

Me and the Tricycle

…I just found this…my sweet wife was cleaning out our basement and found an old box of things I had saved. I wrote this 30 years ago…I scanned it so you could see the all the holes made by the board pins when I stuck it up over my desk at work. I wanted to share what I wrote because it is just as appropriate now as ever…

Bob Lutz was a leader in the automotive design world. Both Chrysler and the old GM benefited from his vision and drive. I read that he had a sign on his office wall, "Often wrong, Seldom in doubt". I like mentioning this because as an engineering leader, you have your hands on the wheel steering your group toward a desired objective. As a leader, your team looks to you to know where to direct effort, and know we are the right path. You’re decisions and results are out there for everyone to judge and appreciate. But, you don’t know everything.
As a leader, it is OK to change your mind when new information about the challenge solution comes around. Letting yourself, and your engineering staff know that, is important to the success of the project. They know who is responsible and accountable for the departments success, and they also need to know that you are open to discussion on the projects many challenges. You steer with conviction, and every now then, you adjust your course.
That is when I come to “…Talk me out of this”. I will admit to having strong opinions about a design once I have decided on the path. Experienced engineers, using analysis and visual renderings, will determine the best solution given a variety of inputs. I have developed an ability to “see” the final product based on my design decisions. This vision needs to be shared with the design team, so they will move toward the same objective. And, this is when I enjoy engineering work the most. Challenging the design team to “talk me out of this” decision, drives your team members to sell their vision. They have to do their due diligence in determining if an alternate design satisfies the objective. They come to you, and the team, with their design solution and explain why this better and suggest a course correction. When you, as the project leader, recognize and appreciate that their solution makes sense, you adjust course. That is what leadership is all about…it may appear that you are “Often wrong”, but you are “Seldom in doubt” on the success of the project. When you have a team of engineers and designers, working together like this, they will be an incredibly effective design engine.

I have had this saying up over my office for over 30 years. It is a mindset. You set yourself to do the best engineering job that is possible given your talent, tools and the time allowed. We can discuss the time it takes to do your engineering job right, meaning right the first time, but management is always pushing engineering, that is a given. The cost to the company, and to you, can be very high when engineering has not had adequate time to investigate, and iterate through a series of ideas to solve the design challenges in the most correct, cost effective way.

I have had managers take exception to the above statement…as an affront to what they are charged in doing. That has never been my point. Given the challenge statement and the solutions offered, it takes time to get it right, so those engineers can move on to the next project. Everyone has probably heard “the devil is in the details”. And, he can make your life very difficult when those details are not attended to, or forgotten in the rush. Adequate planning, a defined project scope, and design engineering experience will address most issues, as the project design challenges are managed and executed in a timely, cost effective manner.