Disclaimer: Thehobartchinaman is not The Bard of Avon. By the time y'all read this, this important issue will have blown away, much like cherry blossom. A women's dance group was invited to perform a routine before the official commissioning of a new naval vessel for the Royal Australian Navy. They twerked! Oh My Lord, they …
Learning About Change
"Change is inevitable", "change is constant"' a modern management mantras. So much piffle I say! Let's go back in time to when I faced the steel clad behemoth of the Incited Pivot superphosphate works. A large filthy industrial plant on the shores of Corio Bay, Geelong. In a precinct with the vast Shell oil refinery …
For Gypsum Board Aficionados – Deming 4th Principle
I accept this is for a small audience, maybe just for me. Anyhow, it needs writing, after thirty plus years. Plasterboard* is a simply made product. Slurried plaster is continuously formed between two sheets of creamy coloured face and less processed back plaster linerboard. These are the key raw materials in manufacture. Gas is the …
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Variation, Who Cares?
Got a hero? Here's one of mine. W Edwards Deming shares some credit for the renaissance of Japan post the devastation of WWII. He espoused principles of quality on which many have written. Catchy simple quality nuggets, in fact almost Zen. Though he was American the Japanese embraced his principles wholeheartedly. These principles were a …
Samson and Whiskey
Whiskey came to our home courtesy of a pet cage in a big aeroplane, alone. For three or more weeks the traumatized fur bundle hunkered in the spare bedroom, hidden behind the spare couch. We barely saw her. With a big Labrador, and mistress cat Sashka to contend with, Whiskey was petrified. Guess I would …
David Cheong Sing – My Father
Walking along Flinders St. Melbourne, brief case in hand, he heads west. The photographer, it must be a studio photographer, catches him mid stride. Bespectacled, and staring straight into the lens he appears a little stilted. He's stepped into Hosiers Lane off of the low basalt stone curbing. The shutter catches him halfway across. Behind …
Aurora Energy – Monopoly Player
Helpfully the electricity company provide a graph comparing electricity use for the billing period with same time last year. The graph for this quarter this year is 200% higher than this time last year!. In our a state of Tasmania the monopoly player is Aurora. Any excuse to not read a meter allows them to …
