A Savage Factory: An Eyewitness Account of the Auto Industry’s Self-Destruction

Savage Factory by Robert Dewar is a manager’s first hand account of a production line at Ford’s Sharonville Transmission Plant in the 70′s and 80′s. Bob’s begins the story on his first day at the job. He receives 39 minutes and is told to get the production numbers. Bob writes in a breezy storytelling manner that makes you feel like you are sitting with him at a kitchen table hearing his accounts. The book provides insight into the maze of Union rules and waves of management directives that Bob faced in his role as foreman. In 1985 ford sent out warning stickers to owners of 23 million vehicles that warned the driver about the possibility of the vehicle jumping out of park into reverse. Transmissions put in those cars were made at the Sharonville plant. We know that part quality at the plant was completely ignored, this story confirms that the actions of labor and management are both to blame. Bob left the car industry and wrote A Savage Factory twenty years later. He was invited to get a tour of the plant in 2009: Ford 1979 vs. Ford 2009: What’s Changed?. This book puts a whole new light on the phrase “Quality is Job 1.”

Sadly, Bob Dewar passed away in January: Robert Dewar Obituary

Robert Dewar Blog on A Savage Factory

Another good related read from the perspective of the auto worker:Rivethead: Tales from the Assembly Line

Ford 1979 vs. Ford 2009

A business case study from Robin Hood. What to do when your business grows and the market changes. What strategy and next step does the leader take?

It was in the spring of the second year of his insurrection against the High Sheriff of Nottingham that Robin Hood took a walk in Sherwood Forest. As he walked he pondered the progress of the campaign, the disposition of his forces, the Sheriffs recent moves, and the options that confronted him.

The revolt against the Sheriff had begun as a personal crusade. It erupted out of Robin’s conflict with the Sheriff and his administration. However, alone Robin Hood could do little. He therefore sought allies, men with grievances and a deep sense of justice. Later he welcomed all who came, asking few questions and demanding only a willingness to serve. Strength, he believed, lay in numbers.

He spent the first year forging the group into a disciplined band, united in enmity against the Sheriff, and willing to live outside the law. The band’s organization was simple. Robin ruled supreme, making all important decisions. He delegated specifIc tasks to his lieutenants. Will Scarlett was in charge of intelligence and scouting. His main job was to shadow the Sheriff and his men, always alert to their next move. He also collected information on the travel plans of rich merchants and tax collectors. Little John kept discipline among the men and saw to it that their archery was at the high peak that their profession demanded. Scarlock took care of the finances, converting loot to cash, paying shares of the take, and finding suitable hiding places for the surplus. Finally, Much the Miller’s son had the diffIcult task of provisioning the ever-increasing band of Merrymen.

The increasing size of the band was a source of satisfaction for Robin, but also a source of concern. The fame of his Merrymen was spreading, and new recruits poured in from every corner of England. As the band grew larger, their small bivouac became a major encampment. Between raids the men milled about, talking and playing games. Vigilance was in decline, and discipline was becoming harder to enforce. “Why”, Robin reflected, “I don’t know half the men 1 run into these days.”

The growing band was also beginning to exceed the food capacity of the forest. Game was becoming scarce, and supplies had to be obtained from outlying villages. The cost of buying food was beginning to drain the band’s fInancial reserves at the very moment when revenues were in decline. Travelers, especially those with the most to lose, were now giving the forest a wide berth. This was costly and inconvenient to them, but it was preferable to having all their goods confiscated.

Robin believed that the time had come for the Merrymen to change their policy of outright confiscation of goods to one of a fixed transit tax. His lieutenants strongly resisted this idea. They were proud of the Merrymen’s famous motto: “Rob the rich to give to the poor.” “The farmers and the townspeople”, they argued, “are our most important allies.” “How can we tax them, and still hope for their nelp in our fight against the Sheriff?”

Robin wondered how long the Merrymen could keep to the ways and methods of their early days. The Sheriff was growing stronger and becoming better organized. He now had the money and the men and was beginning to harass the band, probing for its weaknesses. The tide of events was beginning to turn against the Merrymen. Robin felt the campaign must be decisively concluded before the Sheriff had a chance to deliver a mortal blow. “But How”, he wondered, “could this be done?”

Robin had often entertained the possibility of killing the Sheriff, but the chances for this seemed increasingly remote. Besides, killing the Sheriff might satisfy his personal thirst for revenge, but it would not improve the situation. Robin had hoped that the perpetual state of unrest, and the Sheriffs failure to collect taxes, would lead to his removal from office. Instead, the Sheriff used his political connections to obtain reinforcement. He had powerful friends at court and was well regarded by the regent, Prince John.

Prince John was vicious and volatile. He was consumed by his unpopularity among the people, who wanted the imprisoned King Richard back. He also lived in constant fear of the barons, who had first given him the regency but were now beginning to dispute his claim to the throne. Several of these barons had set out to collect the ransom that would release King Richard the Lionheart from his jail in Austria. Robin was invited to join the conspiracy in return for future amnesty. It was a dangerous proposition. Provincial banditry was one thing, court intrigue was another. Prince John had spies everywhere, and he was known for his vindictiveness. If the conspirators’ plan failed, the pursuit would be relentless and retributions swift.

The sound of the supper horn startled Robin from his thoughts. There was the smell of roasting venison in the air. Nothing was resolved or settled. Robin headed for camp promising himself that he would give these problems his utmost attention after tomorrow’s raid.

Prince Rupert Drop Shatters

Here is another article from the library archives.

Prince Rupert’s Drops in Literature by Clifton Albergotti

Rarely do contemporary scientific discoveries find their way into general literature. Surprisingly, this was not the case in the seventeenth century. During this period many poets, including John Donne, John Milton, George Herbert, and Richard Crashaw, used telling scientific metaphors to illuminate their poetry. In this article I want to document one such instance, the use of Prince Rupert’S drops in literary imagery.

What is a Prince Rupert Drop?

King Crimson: Prince Rupert Awakes from the album Lizard

A prince rupert awakes
Farewell the temple master’s bells
His kiosk and his black worm seed
Courtship solely of his word
With eden guaranteed.
For now prince rupert’s tears of glass
Make saffron sabbath eyelids bleed
Scar the sacred tablet of wax
On which the lizards feed.

King Crimson Lizard Cover

Pitch for the Oxford vs. Cambridge Rugby Match

UPDATE: Looks like the viewing audience for this year’s Bowl is the highest in 23 years. Thought I heard that it was the highest rated in TV history. The Champions League has some catching up to do.

“last year’s average TV audience (109 million people) for the UEFA Champions League final topped that of the Super Bowl (106 million) for the first time.” NYT WSJ

Highest paid athlete in the world. Not who you think. It’s Sachin Tendulkar the Indian Cricket Player. Look at his list of endorsements on the wiki page.

I have to say that when I travel out of the US I always see Soccer and Cricket on the TV. Really have to look hard to hear about either of these sports in north america.

Forget Tiger Woods, read about Soccer Superstar John Terry

English Soccer Star John Terry Faces Scandal

The Time It Takes to Win It All

According to an operational study of National Football League teams prepared for The Wall Street Journal by Boston Consulting Group, the typical NFL season requires 514,000 hours of labor per team. That’s about eight times the effort it took to conceptualize, build and market Apple’s iPod, according to BCG, and enough time to build 25 America’s Cup yachts. If both Super Bowl teams dedicated themselves to construction rather than football, their members could have built the Empire State Building in seven seasons.

11 Minutes of Action

According to a Wall Street Journal study of four recent broadcasts, and similar estimates by researchers, the average amount of time the ball is in play on the field during an NFL game is about 11 minutes.

18 games to get to the SuperBowl is 198 minutes of time the team is playing during the season with 514,000 hours of preparation. Think of all of the situations where you have to make a lot of preparation to be ready for an opportunity that occurs over a very short time.

I really like this quote in the article:

“We prepare so hard for one common goal,” says Colts offensive lineman Kyle DeVan, “I think it would be easy to compete against businesspeople.”

Kyle DeVan is the center for the Indianapolis Colts. Kyle starts the ball in motion. Kyle DeVan: From substitute teacher to protector of Peyton

I’d like to let Kyle know that there are many of us businesspeople who would give him a run for his money.

I am picking the Colts for the game.

The screaming me-me computer geeks are complaining that the iPad is feature limited and is going to be a bomb. No camera, no flash, no slots, too heavy. They even complain that it has a color screen which makes it hard on the eyes for reading ebooks.

This is going to be a winner in the marketplace. I’ll take two!

Jobs did another outstanding demo of the iPad in his keynote. This is the device that you want to surf the web and send out those quick emails.

Jerry Daniels is putting up some great links on the iPad up on his RevMentor site.

From Jerry:

“Much debate these days over innovation and open systems. Apple is a semi-closed system and I think that’s good. What’s closed? The mechanism’s integrity. What’s open? Anything you want to create within that.”

What iPad Apps Are Going to Feel Like

“It shouldn’t feel like a computer”

Here are two good articles on how web designers need to prepare for the ipad:

The iPad is the iPrius: Your Computer Consumerized

Web developers can rule the iPad

Article on data consumption over the phone network connections. I agree with this one, people chew up more data while they are in their principle location over their DSL/Cable connections. Roaming out the office you are using the service for connectivity. I have a Sprint Overdrive and will use it with the iPad while away from WiFi.

Can You Get By with 250 MB of Data Per Month?

Retiring on an iPhone App:

Eugene Lin on iPhoning His Way To Retirement

I like this rant:

Subscriptions are the New BLACK. (+ why Facebook, Google, & Apple will own your wallet by 2015)

This is technology to learn to get webpage/webapps onto the iPhone without submitting an application to Apple:

Building iPhone Apps with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript

iPhone and iPad developer tools, Titanium and PhoneGap:

PhoneGap vs. Titanium from n00b eyes

JQuery. Very useful tool to make your website iPhone/iPad friendly.

Getting Started With Titanium

Welcome to jQuery for Designers

14 Days of jQuery

TopStyle 4 is a great Windows base webpage authoring tool. Port it to OS X!

TopStyle4: iPhone (and iPod touch) webapp development. TopStyle includes iWebKit, a simple and advanced development framework for iPhone (and iPod touch) webapp development. In addition to iWebKit, TopStyle includes new CSS definitions for iPhone OS 1.1 and iPhone OS 2.0. Last but not least, TopStyle includes a new *internal* preview for Apple Safari.

Here is a paper published in 1890 written by Thomas Chamberlin.

The Method of Multiple Working Hypotheses – With this method the dangers of parental affection for a favorite theory can be circumvented.

Method of Multiple Working Hypotheses (PDF)

Thomas Chamberlin, a geologist, was president of the University of Wisconsin at the time this lecture was written. Later he was professor and director of the Walker Museum of the University of Chicago. In 1893 he founded the Journal of Geology.

Here is an overview of the installation process for Fat Free CRM on Bluehost accounts.

Fat Free CRM is an open source Ruby on Rails-based customer relationship management platform.

Michael Dvorkin is leading the development of this project.

Fat Free CRM installation is found at: http://wiki.github.com/michaeldv/fat_free_crm/installation

Since Fat Free CRM is open source, the code can have development forks.
Bryce McDonnell has taken one fork and has a hosted version of Fat Free CRM at Hostedffcrm.com

Local configuration and Software Tools for this exercise:
OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard on a MacBook Pro
Terminal for SSH/Shell access
Smultron – File Editor
Interarchy – FTP Tool
FireFox

Smultron and Interarchy work very well together. Interarchy is Finder style ftp tool that has drag and drop capabilities. Smultron is a good editor that will let you open files located on a remote server for local editing. This is a good pair of tools for webserver work.

Bluehost SSH/Shell access

Contact Bluehost via a support ticket to request SSH access for your account. You will need to provide a driver license image with your request. Login to your cpanel to make the support ticket request, select sales as the ticket type. Simply take a snapshot of your ID and upload it on the support ticket form.

Once you have received the confirmation email back from Bluehost, open up a terminal window and generate your public key with the command:

ssh-keygen -t rsa

The next step is to append your public key to your Bluehost account:

cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub | ssh username@yourdomain.com "cat >> .ssh/authorized_keys"

You can then logon to your account with ssh:

ssh username@yourdomain.com

A short set of SSH Commands reference page on bluehost.

Create a subdomain on your account.

In your cpanel, create a subdomain from the selection in the domain panel links. Give it a name crm.yourdomain.com and create the folder crm in your public_html. public_html/crm

Create a new MySQL database.

Use the MySQL database link in your cpanel and create a new database and user. Take note of the name of the database and username along with their passwords. Assign the user to your crm database and give it all privliges.

Database: yourdom_crm
User: yourdom_crm
Password: *******

Setting up Ruby on Rails

Ruby on Rails is installed on your server. The server that I used for testing has a dedicated IP address (need to verify if you can run Ruby on Rails on shared hosted at bluehost).

Bluehost has a guide in their knowledgebase on Ruby on Rails Set-up
http://helpdesk.bluehost.com/index.php/kb/article/207 This is worth a read to get another overview of the set-up for developing ROR applications.

In the next couple of steps we will create a working directory and create an application then take note of some specific files for bluehost ROR applications.

% cd ~/public_html/
% mkdir rails_apps
% cd rails_apps
% rails -D -d mysql crm

Create a working subdirectory in your home directory, rails_apps. create a rails applicaiton with rails. -D creates the application with dispatches, this is a dritical setting that creates the needed files for ROR operation on Bluehost.com. -d mysql creates a MySQL database hook to the rails application. crm is the application name and directory.

When the subdomain crm.yourdomain.com files were created under public_html/crm. These files are not required for the ROR application, you can use your ftp program or the rm command in the shell (becareful with the rm command) to delete these files. ln creates a symbolic link that maps files within the server.

% cd ~/public_html/
% rm -r crm
% ln -s $HOME/rails_apps/first/public $HOME/public_html/crm

If all went well you can browse to crm.yourdomain.com and see if the Ruby on Rails welcome page shows up. You will probably see the welcome page but you will have server issue when you select “About your application’s environment.” Rails won’t start.

You need to check that you have three files in your crm/public directory:

dispatch.cgi
dispatch.fcgi
.htaccess

It is probable that the dispatch.fcgi and dispatch.cgi files were created (they are not created if you use the cpanel utility for Ruby on Rails).

Take note of this support document from the bluehost knowledgebae: Ruby on Rails 404 Errors

You will need to create an .htacess file within the crm/public directory.

Check crm.yourdomain.com and you will see that the server is now running Rails.

Save the files .htaccess, dispatch.cgi, dispatch.fcgi to your local directory.

This is the correct .htaccess file

# General Apache options
AddHandler fcgid-script .fcgi
AddHandler cgi-script .cgi
#Options  FollowSymLinks  ExecCGI

# If you don't want Rails to look in certain directories,
# use the following rewrite rules so that Apache won't rewrite certain requests
#
# Example:
#   RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/notrails.*
#   RewriteRule .* - [L]

# Redirect all requests not available on the filesystem to Rails
# By default the cgi dispatcher is used which is very slow
#
# For better performance replace the dispatcher with the fastcgi one
#
# Example:
#   RewriteRule ^(.*)$ dispatch.fcgi [QSA,L]
RewriteEngine On

# If your Rails application is accessed via an Alias directive,
# then you MUST also set the RewriteBase in this htaccess file.
#
# Example:
#   Alias /myrailsapp /path/to/myrailsapp/public
#   RewriteBase /myrailsapp

RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^$ index.html [QSA]
RewriteRule ^([^.] )$ $1.html [QSA]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ dispatch.fcgi [QSA,L]

# In case Rails experiences terminal errors
# Instead of displaying this message you can supply a file here which will be rendered instead
#
# Example:
#   ErrorDocument 500 /500.html

ErrorDocument 500 "<h2>Application error</h2>Rails application failed to start properly</h2>"

Let’s install Fat Free CRM!

Get the current distribution of Fat Free CRM from the github repository.

Unzip this packgage on your local drive.

Delete the file database.sqlite.yml that is within the config directory.
Rename the database.mysql.yml to database.yml
Edit the database.yml file and enter your databasename, username and password in the fields.

development:
  adapter: mysql
  encoding: utf8
  database: yourdom_crm
  pool: 5
  username: yourdom_crm
  password: ********
  socket: /tmp/mysql.sock

I used the same database information for development, test and production (you really should create the three separte dbs).

Upload all of the directories within the Fat Free CRM distribution to your crm directory with your ftp program.

Copy the three files, htaccess, dispatch.cgi, dispatch.fcgi from your local directory into the crm/public directory on the server.

You can follow the remainer of the installation instruction listed on the Fat Free CRM GitHub.

In your terminal.

Create the database:

% rake db:create

Set-up the application:

% rake crm:setup

Load up the demo data:

% rake crm:demo:load

This command loads up an empty database:

% rake crm:demo:load

You will be asked to create a username and password.

If you load the demo data, you can login with on of the default user names. Username: dan Password: dan is an easy one to use.

Vist crm.yourdomain.com and you will be presented with the login screen.

The file crm/config/settings.yml has a number of parameters you can set for the applicaiton. Read this file on how to make these changes set.

Install Summary
1. Have SSH/Shell Access
2. Create a subdomain crm.yourdomain.com and delete the directory within public_html/crm.
3. Create a test rails applicaiton on your server directory in $Home/rails_apps/crm. Make sure you link the directories.
4. Upload the Fat Free CRM files into your crm directory.
5. Be sure you have the proper .htaccess file in your crm/public directory.
6. Configure the database.yml files. Create your database user and databases in your MySQL cpanel.

FFCRM

Here are some screen shots of my Fat Free CRM running on a bluehost server.

Web pages that helped in with my set-up:

Deploying a Rails App, with Git and Capistrano on BlueHost

bluehost rails update cgi problems”>How to instal rails on bluehost 2.3.2

>Setting up Ruby on Rails at Bluehost

Getting Ruby on Rails running on Bluehost

How to deploy a Rails application on HostingRails.com

Disclaimer: I have an Affiliate Link for Bluehost.com within this post. I do like the performance and support of bluehost and have been using them for a number of years. Their Rails implementation could use some work so it might be worth a look at another hosting provider if you are in need of ROR.