COMPUTER MEMORIES, Chapter 12

A NEEDLESS REPORT: AT INTERNATIONAL HARVESTER
These two stories are almost redundant, but actually happened at IHC in Chicago, then at Chance Vought in Dallas a couple of years later. In both cases, the fact that the people in the IBM room had no idea what was going on in the factory, and the people in the factory had no idea what was going on in the IBM room, was the reason these worthless projects continued for uncounted months or perhaps years. I am sure that my knowledge of both sides of the glass divide, enabled me to spot a complete waste of time and effort.

At IHC I had worked in the factory before being called back into the Army for the Korean War, stocking parts on the assembly line, working on the assembly line, and repairing diesel engines that failed the test stand operation. As a result of my intense curiosity about everything, I was more aware of the operation of the factory than most people I worked with. The knowledge gained here, was what enabled me to create production control systems for aircraft, and missile engines, a year or so later.

In the IBM room we had a very large file, 150,000 cards or more, that had to be massaged over and over each week, adding, deleting, sorting, and printing a two-copy report that resulted in two bound volumes, two inches thick. No one would listen to the new kid, still wet behind the ears, who tried to tell them about the report, and why it would make no sense on the production floor. Since I had been a "stock boy" on the assembly line, I recognized many of the part names and numbers, and knew where they were stocked on the assembly line.

Finally, for two weeks straight I made sure I bound the books backwards, inside out, so that when it was opened, all that was seen was blank paper, all the numbers were hidden. When I heard no complaints, I came to work early one evening, went to the factory floor to talk to my former boss, the General Foreman. When I asked about the report, he pointed to an adjoining office which actually had the reports stacked to the ceiling and said, “I never look at it, and Joe, across the aisle, doesn’t use his copy either.” And this was a two copy report.

I had to go over the head of my direct boss in the IBM Department, and finally convinced the big boss of the problem. He investigated, then canceled the project. I was a hero to those who hated that very repetitive job, and a bum to those who now had to learn how to do other things.

ANOTHER USELESS REPORT: AT CHANCE VOUGHT AIRCRAFT
At Chance Vought Aircraft, I was able to convince them I was the person to help design the production control system, and they agreed. While researching needed information, I discovered another completely useless project. Each Wednesday afternoon, a huge cart loaded with file drawers filled with IBM cards, arrived in the IBM room. The cards were massaged all night, and the next day, then returned to the production control office. I found that everyone, except those who did the work in the IBM room, and the person who pushed the cart to and fro, completely ignored the card file — it supplied no useful information.

Again, the complaints about my nosiness, and complements about my success in having the project ditched, were evenly divided. I’m not kidding when I say that more than one person thought of me as a Yankee troublemaker. They had been doing that Wednesday night job for years, and now I had spoiled what they considered a lifetime job.