This week it feels as if manufacturing might be back in fashion, and that feels good. One reason for the change might be that I attended the International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS) at McCormick Hall in Chicago. As you may have read, the attendance totaled over 100,000 people, the most for any IMTS since 2002. Both the number of organizations displaying their wares and the head count of attendees reviewing the displays suggest that there is renewed interest in US manufacturing.

Here is one of the least intuitive lessons (to me at least) that young supervisors learn: Most individuals tend to perform at about the same level across all the facets of their jobs. That is, barring special circumstances, someone with great attendance usually also works hard and produces good quality products. By the same token, an employee who has trouble getting out of bed in the morning is unlikely to be a huge asset once he arrives at work. Call it consistency of conduct.

Here in northern Illinois we have a great festival each Labor Day weekend. Saturday, as I sat in the rain we've been waiting for all summer and listened to a mariachi band, I found myself reflecting on the luxury of being a writer in the United States today. First of all, writing mostly happens indoors, which was a strong selling point this weekend. Secondly, being a writer suggests that you have a job, also a very good thing in the Midwest this year.

The AP news feed from Punto Fijo, Venezuela, today started with a description of an accountant from the neighborhood of the Amuay refinery that caught fire there. He smelled gas suffused with sulfur as he entered his apartment across the street. A few hours later the refinery blew up, killing at least 39 and injuring another 80. Ironically, the feed said 18 of the victims were soldiers in a station that was there to protect the plant. I guess they weren't looking for an attack from within.

One of the foundations of reliability engineering is the promise that problems will be solved once, and the data will be used to prevent recurrence of the same problem. Sadly, the gulf that exists in most organizations between reliability engineering and operations people tends to prevent delivery on this promise.

Giving a surprise party is a lot of work. All the usual party costs and chores have to be covered, and it all has to be done in secret, with a lot of extra details to keep the guest of honor in the dark. It's worth it, though. It's great when the guest comes in and everyone jumps out from behind the furniture and shouts, "Surprise!" at just the right moment.

The only thing I can think of that would be tougher than throwing a successful surprise party for someone else would be throwing one for myself.

Impossible, you say?

Machismo is in the eye of the beholder. Different groups and lifestyles tend to create their own versions. Country records celebrate macho truckin', stock car racin', and honkey tonkin', as well as complex relationships with law enforcement. My military friends' version has to do with ignoring pain from injuries; ignoring separation anxiety; and otherwise maintaining a laser focus on the job without benefit of food or rest. Extra points are available for shooting a clean, tight group with firearms that would jolt the fillings out of my teeth if I pulled the trigger once.

One day I found myself riding the jump seat, up front in a client's Cessna Citation. It was my first time in the cockpit of a jet, and as we lined up for takeoff I said, "Gee, this is exciting!"
"We don't like exciting up here," came the captain's clipped response.
"Exciting happens way too fast at 500 knots," explained the copilot.
"We like boring," said the pilot.
"Same old same-old," affirmed the copilot.

Stephen Covey's death last week got me thinking about change, so I made a Web search on "Everything changes but change itself," and found the real quotation, "Everything flows, nothing stands still,"(Herakleitos; Heraclitus) of Ephesus (c.535 BC - 475 BC).

Nothing is more important to an operating plant than maintenance. Once a plant is in operation, safety, ecological performance, efficiency, and optimization of every function depend on the reliable, controllable performance of equipment and other infrastructure. How's that for preaching to the choir?