Chapter 5

After a few days of intense negotiations, all parties agreed to the plans for the construction. The ground breaking was attended by everyone involved in the project and was written up in the papers. Jim made sure that a complete account of the agreement with Parameter, the contractors and the building trades was written up in the Sunday newspaper in the business section.

The construction started in earnest On September 15^th. The unions had little problem manning the project since work was a bit slack in the area. Jim held off on the third shift until the site work was well under way and the concrete contractor laid out the slab. After the slab drawings were approved he ordered the concrete contractor to start work.

Each day became increasingly more hectic. He hired 2 retired project managers to assist him and they helped head off a lot of the problems before they got to his desk. As with all accelerated construction projects, there was a new crisis every 10 minutes that had to be solved immediately. He insisted that each contractor's foreman attend a 20-minute progress meeting every day. He sent a memo to the foreman outlining what would be discussed that day and asked that they come prepared to help with the problems that were going to be discussed.

Ann Bristol attended the progress meetings every day. She was starting to have to spend a couple of hours each day on the site to offer direction. He found that she was invaluable to the project, many times offering suggestions that saved quite a bit of time.

By the first week in November, both of the slabs for the additions were poured and machinery was starting to be brought onto the concrete floor of the first addition. He had to take care not to damage the slab, as the concrete had not had time to cure yet. He had to admit that the reason for the progress they were making was because of the fantastic cooperation between the contractors, unions and the workers.

On November 9^th Ann came to him and asked him to meet with Rolf and her for lunch. She explained that they had an important matter to discuss with him and that they needed to know about a change in the machinery in the third phase of the construction.

Jim went to Rolf's office at noon. Ann and Rolf were already sitting at the conference table and he saw that the lunch had already been delivered.

Ann turned as he walked in, "We always have whatever the special of the day is in the cafeteria and I ordered the same for you. I hope that's Ok."

He assured her that it was and sat down. Rolf started to ask how the construction was going and Ann interrupted him and reminded her uncle that Jim would be anxious to get back to his own problems.

"Well Jim," Rolf started, "We've been trying to get into a new area for years, but we haven't have the machinery or the room to put the machinery in. We've just been offered a contract to do that type of work. The problem is that we will need to install additional machinery in the secure building. As you know, that is in the third phase of construction. This machinery is so precise that we will be able to drill a hole in a needle and not bend the needle. We need the machinery installed as soon as possible. Is it possible to do the secure building next and let the existing section wait?"

Rolf pulled out drawings of the machinery and gave him a rough idea of the conveyors and feed in machinery that would be needed. Jim stopped eating and spread the drawings out on the end of the conference table. He asked for a pad and paper and started to make notes. There was a set of drawings for the additions and the new machinery in the conference room and he spread them out next to the other drawings. After reviewing the drawings he felt that he could make it work.

"When we designed this project you told us you wanted a little room for expansion. We designed in additional room for expansion as you requested. We can use that room for this machinery. The electrical bus duct will allow us to feed the machinery from overhead, so electricity won't be a problem. The main thing is that I don't want to design something and find out after I've designed it that I've created problems somewhere else. I'll need a lot of input from you."