Chapter 1

Thursday, 14 Feb., 2013

I have now worked at Traynor Electronic Systems for a little over a month and I am now working with Glenn Stevenson, the facilities manager. My new title is 'Manager in Training' or MIT. I asked Glenn if he had any drawings of the site.

"Sure, Bob, I've got the drawings right over here." Glenn walked over to a metal cabinet and pulled a set of rolled up drawings out of the cabinet and laid them out on the drafting table in his office. "Here you go, Bob, what did you wanted to see?" asked Glenn.

"Well, I thought that with all the electronics around here, the plans would be on a computer."

"Bob, you know I never did see any electronic media with the plans on them."

"Let's look these over and see if they were done electronically or by hand." We looked over all the drawings in this set and realized that they were all done electronically. I found the phone number for the architectural firm that was on the drawings and made a call.

"Anderson and Conway Architects, how may I direct your call?"

"This is Bob Roberts over at Traynor Electronics Systems, and I was wondering if I could talk to your drafting supervisor. We would like to get an electronic copy of the plans you made for our facility."

"That would be David Holmes; I will connect you with him."

There was a click and a short pause with some low music, then a male voice came on the line. "Drafting, David Holmes, how can I help you?" I switched the phone to speaker.

"David, this is Bob Roberts and Glenn Stevenson over at Traynor Electronics Systems. I understand that your firm did the drawings for this site and facility. I was wondering if you had the electronic files for this plant, and could I get a copy of all the disciplines for this site from you, or if there are other firms involved with this project that I need to get with."

"Bob, we should have all the disciplines for this project. Let me do some research and see what we have available. Do you have either the project number or the date of the signoff available?"

"Sure, David, the project number is TES-00-142. I assume that is for Traynor Electronics Systems and the project was the 142nd for the year and was started in 2000. The sign off date was February 21^st, 2001."

"That's right how did you know? You've done this before, haven't you?"

"No, David, I looked at the project number and that was the only thing that made sense. I thought that would be how I would do it."

"Yeah, Bob, let me get your number and I'll get back to you today as soon as I find the file. You said you needed all the disciplines, does that include civil and landscaping too?"

"Maybe not right away, but what software are you using, or what was used for that project? We don't have software right now, but I hope you use AutoCAD, since that's the best for all disciplines, and the easiest to teach someone. Glenn's number is 555-6504. Glenn is the site Facilities Manager and I am working with him on this project."

"Yeah, Bob, we only use AutoCAD ourselves. That way we can integrate all our subs into our plans and make sure everything lines up right. I'll get back to you as soon as we can. Thanks for calling."

I hung up then and said, "Well, Glenn, it looks like we need to get you a copy of AutoCAD."

"But, Bob, I don't have the first idea how to do any of this CAD stuff. How are we going to do this?"

"Not to worry, Glenn. I have been playing with a copy that I have at home. My dad got a copy of it so we could do some remodeling at home. Besides, it is about the easiest software to learn there is. It does everything so that you can use it for every discipline; architectural, structural, HVAC, electrical, plumbing and piping, civil, landscaping, and anything else, including mechanical piece parts. I can teach you all this in less than a month. That's how long I'm being assigned here, and you should be very good by the time I move on to the next department."

You see, since I started working here at Traynor, Sam had me work at least one month in each department of the plant. I had only worked in Security so far. Administration was next, then Human Resources. I think Programming was next after that, as I was taking an intro to computers course at school.

My truck should be all done before then. I had been working on it ever since I got it back on the first of December. I had already finished tearing out the metal bed, replaced it with a wood and metal bed, and had the whole bed repainted. I still had the interior and the engine left to work on, plus the cab and front to paint yet. The engine didn't need much work, but I wanted to get it cleaned up and maybe do some work to put a little more zip into it. You know, maybe bore out the cylinders a little and put a cam in it. I had thought about putting a newer V-6 into it, but the conversion cost would be too great for me.

Ralph Ramirez, Leo's dad, knows a really good engine man and he said he could put some pep to the engine for me for under $1,000. I said he could have at it. Dad and I ran the truck over to him on Monday. Pete Hernandez said that once he had all the parts in, he would have it done in a couple of weeks or less. I talked to him yesterday and he had all the parts now, so it would be done soon. He said he wanted to add some more goodies to make it run a little better. Pete said I would probably get about fifty more horses out of the little engine, especially after he put a five-speed transmission in it. When he talked to me yesterday, he asked if I wanted one, as he ran across a guy with one from a junked '92 D50. The guy only wanted a hundred dollars for it and it bolted right up to my engine, so I jumped at the chance. Now, with the horsepower jumping from 116 to about 140, and putting in the five-speed, I would still get great mileage and some performance increases as well.

"So, Glenn, what all do you do here?"

Glenn went over all the different phases of the facilities maintenance and coordination. He is the focal point for everything associated with the building, moving of equipment and furniture, internal mail, coordination with outside contractors, etc. He also maintains records of the utilities consumption, and when needed, brings to Sam's attention any area that is using too much power, gas, or water. Glenn is who everybody calls when something goes wrong with power, the restrooms, the elevators, etc. Glenn then calls whichever company maintains that part of the building. There is an electrical contractor he calls for electrical work if it is more than a tripped circuit breaker, the same with a plumbing contractor for problems that his guys can't fix right away. Glenn's department consists of him and seven other people to handle the building and the mail room. Most of the outside work is contracted out. A landscaping company takes care of the mowing and the trimming of all trees and plants on the site. There was a small outside patio area with ten tables and umbrellas that could each seat four. The cafeteria had a set of windows that showed an expanse of lawn and some trees for a nice view while eating. There were only a few days a year you could really sit out and eat at lunch time, but it looked nice.

I called Sam and told him we would need to get a copy of the software for Glenn to be able to have the building plans in electronic form. I explained about contacting the architect about the plans. This way nothing was being kept from him.

About an hour after talking with David, he called back and Glenn put him on the speaker.

"Bob, I found our files on your project. I have all the drawings except for the original site prep work. I have already called the company: they didn't have an electronic copy, but said they would get a copy of their master plans and send it to you."

"David, this is Glenn Stevenson, how can I get the site files electronically? Paper copies are what we have right now."

"You can get either a vector drawing made from a place here in town, Miller Blueprint, or call one of the CAD contractors and they can digitize the drawings into CAD for you."

"Oh, OK, I guess we will have to handle that once we get the files in. Those are the only ones I would hate to try to draw from scratch with inexperienced drafters like me," said Glenn.

"Don't feel bad, Glenn, even we don't use anyone who doesn't use some kind of CAD program for their plans anymore. Most civil engineering software can be converted into.dwg format, so we can use it for our files too. All of your drawing files are going to be in.dwg format, so AutoCAD will read them. They come in two discs and I'm going to send them over to you as soon as I get copies made. I've got a girl doing that right now. She is consolidating all the drawings together so she can burn them to a CD for you. Do I put it to your attention, Bob, or someone else?"

"Well actually, David, put it to the attention of Glenn Stevenson, facilities department. That is who I am working with on this end. Right now I am a roving Manager in Training, only working three days a week and going to school the rest of the time."

"So you are still in school, what university are you attending, Bob?"

"Actually, David, I'm still in Taylor High School. I'm in a work study program and just started here in January. I've kind of worked for the company for a while now, but on a very limited basis. I hope to be able to work full time in the summers and part time during the school year."

"Wow, I never would have taken you for a high school student. You sounded more mature than that. Wait a minute, you said summers. How old are you, if I may be so bold to ask?"

"I just turned sixteen in January, why?"

"Sixteen, you must be some kind of genius, or something."

"Yeah, I'm the 'or something.' I'm smart, but no genius. One of my many talents though, is being able to see something and work through how it could be improved or made more efficient. That is what got the attention of the site manager here. He was my girlfriend's father. We had many long conversations about business and life. He asked if I could help him out with a problem at work, and I was able to give him an answer to his problem. Since then, I have kind of been taken under his wing, so to speak."

"That is some talent. Maybe you should start your own consulting firm, 'Answers R Us, ' then you could write your own ticket."

"Yeah, well, I figure I need the education more first, then I'll see about being famous."

"Would you consider consulting for us if the need was to arise?"

"Yeah, I think that could be arranged. Why, do you have something in mind?"

"No, nothing right now, but I thought that if something was to come up, I could contact you there and see if it was something you would be able to do."

"OK, I think I can safely say that wouldn't be a conflict of interest if it was not directly concerning this company. Do you know someone locally that we can get the AutoCAD software from? I know Autodesk is the parent company, but there should be a local distributor that sells and maintains it."

"There is a company, Engineering Solutions, over in Westlake that can provide you with the software when you get ready for it. I deal with Ben Johnson over there and his number is 555-1463. They treat us pretty good, and when we have a problem or run across something strange, I call Ben and he usually has the right answer for me."

"Thanks, David, you have helped us out a lot. If we have more questions, maybe we can rely on you to point us in the right direction to find the answers?"

"Sure, Bob, you or Glenn can call me anytime. I'm been working with this stuff for about 12 years now, so if you have a question, by all means call me."

Both Glenn and I said thanks and we hung up. Glenn then called Sam and told him what we found out from David, so Sam had Glenn call purchasing to get the ball rolling for purchasing the AutoCAD software. Sam asked how many copies I thought we needed.