Disclaimer: Nothing was used in an obscene manner, (or so you might believe otherwise). The usual disclaimers also apply.
Soooo…..
It's been a while since I have made a post here due to numerous issues.
For those that may not be up on it. I am the Regional (Midwest), IT Service Support Manager for a large national company that is expanding like a lazy kid eating Oreos, and is going international in about a year…..
I am in charge of making sure that IT Service and Support for three plants in three separate states (Each plant having 2-5 production lines, warehouse facilities, admin areas, testing, and shipping areas), are approx 400,000 sq ft. Total cost of plants that I provide operation support for approx approx. 250 million dollars….
It's a job that I love with a freakin' passion….
Except….
When Corporate wants to get "involved".
"Corporate" as we call them is based out of Southern California (SoCal). and they do all the fun things that Corporate Offices do, to include newsletters, community projects, updating the break room, etc….
And, they "decide" to do things with/to the plants…
One of the systems that each plant has is a plastic injector these injectors make approx 36 plastic caps per injection. Each injection is about four seconds We have four of these injectors.
Recently Corporate had the bright idea of having a pc installed on one of the large TV's that we have mounted in the plant. The plant has large screen tvs on the floor, that have an outline of each production line and as such, a line worker can see where there is a problem and move to correct it.
Now Corporate has decided that they want to mount the a pc that has been configured by them to one of these tvs so they can then remote in and monitor the injection process. Why? I have no idea…
So they send us the computer.
Only no one knows what it's for.
So I wander into the Production Team office and see a PC box sitting on the Quality Improvement Managers desk.
"What's this?" I ask him.
"Oh that's yours." QM tells me.
I look over at the shipping label.
It's addressed to him.
My name is on the very bottom.
"Uh…No it ain't." I said.
He looks at it, and says "Well what is it."
I tell him "Based on the box, and what I see written on the outside, it's one of the minis."
"Oh." He says. Then he looks back up at me and says "Well do you know what it's for?"
I look at him and say "Nope. Haven't the foggiest."
I wander out the office.
Seems that sometime later he gets back with me about "What the pc is for, (The whole remote thing)…"
"Ah I said. Just who sent this? I haven't seen a ticket on it, or a project #. And I haven't been notified of this whatsoever."
"Hmmmm.." QM says. "I thought you would know."
So he goes back and get's a name and sends it to me.
So I email this person and say "We have a PC here. What's it for?"
Person then says "Well we're doing this with all the plants outside of California, etc…etc…we need this installed, so we shipped it to you."
I responded with "Okay we can do that. But how come you never informed us of this before you shipped it? And, did you notify any of the other plants you are doing this?"
The response back was "No."
So I merrily wrote back…"So you mean to tell me that y'all decided on a plant project with no input from IT or the Plants themselves, sent 21 pcs to 21 different plants across the nation, and didn't notify anyone of what you were doing, and expect people to know what they are for and what to do with them?"
Their response…"Uh…yeah…we did."
So tomorrow I get to "Fix" their mess…..
And these people make more money than I do….
Submitted respectfully,
Murphy
ponders nirvana.
