Chapter 1

Jim Furol pulled into the parking lot of the Walgreen's Drug Store and found a parking space close to the store for his pickup. There were quite a few cars in the parking lot for a Labor Day weekend. He had decided to pick up a few toiletries that he needed before checking into the motel. Traffic on the Interstates had not been as bad as he had expected. He had made very good time. He had decided to travel over the holiday so that he would have a few days to find a small apartment before the new project started. He hated living out of motels, as he usually had to do. This project was going to be a longer one than usual; it would last about two years.

Jim was an engineer for Park Machinery Company. Park Machinery was a company that installed production line machinery that included stamping machinery, conveyors systems and robotic manufacturing machinery. The company was unique in that it could design, estimate and install the machinery. Many times a customer's only instructions to Park Machinery would be to design and install the most modern machinery possible. Often a customer would know what he wanted his facility to do, but had no idea what he needed. The smaller manufacturers could not afford to have an in-house design engineers and would contract the design and installation to Park Machinery. These smaller manufacturers were Park Machinery's bread and butter accounts. Park's design team would meet with the customer and find out their needs, figure out what the customer's goals were and survey the competition. They would then design a state-of-the-art facility uniquely suited to that customer's needs, while making sure that future upgrades could be made without having to completely retool. Park machinery could handle the entire project from design to bid to installation. In today's business climate, the life of a new manufacturing facility was short. Computer chip plants had a life of 18 months before having to retool.

Jim Furol was a very good engineer. He had worked for Park Machinery since he got out of college. He worked in the office until about 3 years ago. He was the lead design engineer in the office. He was good at taking a customer's ideas and providing a manufacturing facility that would serve the customer's needs without driving him into bankruptcy. Jim kept up on all of the latest technology and had taken several courses on robotics. He read every brochure that suppliers sent him and kept up on what products were available in his field. Many offers for advancement had come from other companies over the years, but he had his family and a comfortable home and travel did not appeal to him.

Three years ago, Bill Park had asked him to have lunch with him. They went to a local Italian restaurant and Bill Park asked the waitress for a table where they could talk. Bill started talking about the latest project that the company had won. The conversation went from talk about the new project, to the weather and then to talk about Bill's new boat. Jim knew that the purpose of this lunch was not to discuss the weather or the new boat.

"Bill, you have something on your mind. Why don't you say it?"

Jim knew Bill Park very well. Bill was a couple of years younger than Jim's 47 years, but they had become close over the years. Bill Park was a go-getter. He had started Park Machinery on a shoestring. Jim lived next door to him and knew him just well enough to say hi to him over the fence. Both were engineers and neither of them liked the companies that they worked for. Both of them had gone with their respective companies right out of college for wages that were a bit lower than average for an engineer. The promised increases never materialized and they started looking for better opportunities. Bill had an argument with the owner of his company and left just before he got fired. He decided to go into business for himself with the help of a loan from his father and a small business loan that was guaranteed by the Small Business Administration. About a year after he started Park Machinery, he asked Jim to come with him and take over the design department. Jim knew that it was risky, but he was fed up with the company that he was working for. Jim talked it over with his wife and they decided that with her salary and his, they could make it. If Bill's company didn't make it, her salary would keep them afloat until he found another job.

He started working for Park machinery in their old building that was so drafty that everyone wore sweaters and jackets at their desks in the winter. Within a year Park Machinery had to move to larger quarters. In 3 years, Park machinery built their own building in an industrial park and opened an office on the west coast. Five years ago Bill Park announced that he had opened an office in Europe. The design was still done at the home office, but installation of the systems was done from the branch offices. Jim and Bill both knew that Jim's expertise and long hours were the reason for a large part of Park's success. Bill Park made sure that Jim was compensated well for his work. Jim invested his money well and he had no financial worries. The Park Machinery Company grew every year and became a major player in the installation of industrial machinery.

Bill Park stared at his coffee cup, "Jim you're slipping. You're starting to let your problems come to work with you. You know yourself that you're getting hard to work with. I'm getting a lot of complaints from the people in your department. I'm afraid that I'm going to start losing some of my good designers."

Jim tried to read what his friend was thinking, "Are you trying to say that you'd like me to resign?"

"No, of course not. It's just that I think you need to shake yourself off, boot yourself in the ass and get on with your life."

Jim knew that what he was saying was true. He had been hard to deal with at work recently and had gotten into arguments with some of his people that he knew were uncalled for. His work was as good as it ever was, but he knew that if he didn't change his mind-set, that his performance would drop off and the company would suffer.

"I guess I've got to agree with You, Bill. I've probably have been bringing my problems to work. I'll try to be a bit more pleasant to work with."

"I really brought you here to discuss something else. This new project, as you know, is the first true turnkey project that we've ever done. We've discussed letting Roger Bass do it, but I really don't think he can do this one. I'm worried about the construction of the building. Roger has no building construction experience at all and I'm afraid that if the building falls behind schedule, the rest of the project will become a big loser."

"Are you suggesting that we hire someone for this project?"

"No, definitely not. Let me run something by you that might help both of us. I'd like to ask you to run this project. This would get you away from your problems and you'd be so busy that you wouldn't have time to think about them. I'm not saying that I want to replace you as head of the design department, what I want you to do is do both jobs."

Jim looked at him and saw he was grinning at him.

"No really, I'll get more involved in the department and I'll fly you back here as needed. I'll pay for a motel or apartment and give you 15 dollars a day for food. Any expenses that you incur because you are away from home will be reimbursed. I think this will be the perfect opportunity for you to do some thinking and to get your head screwed on right. The customer has a bonus written into the contract for early completion. I'll split the bonus with you if you complete the project ahead of schedule."

Their food arrived and they continued to discuss the project over lunch, carefully dissecting the job and trying to find any problems they might have before they had to start the actual construction.

Jim's father had been a building contractor and worked every summer with his father since he was sixteen. When he went to college he continued to work with his father every summer until he graduated. His father was disappointed that he was not coming into the business with him but didn't give him any grief because of his decision. Jim's older brother had been working with his father and both of them knew that he would eventually take over the business.