Pinning and Tone

[Horace Greeley]

Fred,


At 09:25 PM 10/27/2003 -0700, you wrote:
>Quoting Don Mannino <dmannino@kawaius.com>:
>
> > Fred,
> >
> > Thanks for the interesting report - sounds like they are still doing
> > it
> > the same as in 1994, when I talked to Michael Mohr about it.  He
> > might
> > be the one you had lunch with - nice guy.
> >
> > The glue is a rubbery feeling film which is laminated to the cloth.
> > Then the pre-glued cloth is pulled through and is heated to activate
> > the
> > glue.
> >
> > Don
> >
>    Nope, it wasn't Michael Mohr. I would have remembered that name. This guy
>was in charge of the action portion of the factory at that time (1994), 
>and was in
>the process of replacing the fancy machines (the ones you put moldings in one
>end, and out come shanks, flanges, repetition levers, or whatever from the 
>other
>end), and in reorganizing the work flow in accordance with more modern 
>factory
>concepts.

Probably Chris Arena.

>  Creating "cells" where everyone working on a particular part is in
>close proximity (eg, people putting together the damper underlevers, as 
>well as
>those who screw them to a lift rail and do initial spacing and travelling) 
>so they
>can be in easy communication and get feedback. Having financial incentives 
>for
>everyone to be cross trained. Making it "demand driven" rather than just
>automatically producing (ie, when there are plenty of part (a) completed,
>workers shift to part (b) - and here's where cross-training comes into its 
>own).
>And lots of other conceptual stuff that sounded impressive, but I didn't 
>retain.

Just like they did it before everything was broken out to piece work in 
1955/1956.

>    Some interesting processes. One that caught my eye especially was the
>gluing of knuckles to shanks. They take a large number of completed shanks
>(completed in the sense of having been machined) and line them up in a 
>fixture.
>Then a single, continuous strip of wood is glued in the slot for the 
>knuckle core.
>Felt and leather are then added and glued, and, once dry, they are cut apart.
>Result - very consistent knuckle placement. No zig zag. No need for making
>sure you individually adjust each jack (though it's a good idea anyway).

The trick in this process is to get the felt and leather to stay in 
position.  If the block which clamps them to the core and the shank moves 
while getting set in place, the knuckles come out very uneven.

>    I could spend months hanging out in the factory and never experience a
>moment's boredom. Fascinating place.

Nope; and, most definitely, yes.

Best.

Horace


>Regards,
>Fred Sturm
>University of New Mexico
>
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