Gdansk

Gdansk, Poland

• Process Automation
• Pulp and Paper industry
• New EU memeber state

Maintenance

Maintenance has two huge mandates to balance.

1. The first being production needs and
2. the second being long term preservation of shareholder capital.

Maintenance is the only organization in manufacturing that has a responsibility to the assets being used and the responsibility to ensure they will be usable tomorrow. These somewhat opposing missions and the lack of a shareholder representative at the facility lead to a continuing dismissal of the shareholders capital cost at the expense of production. Life cycle costing takes some of this into account.

Self Control

AROUND 1970, psychologist Walter Mischel launched a classic experiment Self-control is the key to success. The Walter Mischel experiments, along with everyday experience, tell us that self-control is essential. Young people who can delay gratification can sit through sometimes boring classes to get a degree. They can perform rote tasks in order to, say, master a language. They can avoid drugs and alcohol. For people without self-control skills, however, school is a series of failed ordeals.

• Musicians practice endless hours to perform a single piece of music.
• Students study instead of watch TV.
• Athletes devote years of their lives to prepare for an Olympic event that may last only a few minutes.

Differences in the ability to focus attention and exercise control emerge very early, perhaps as soon as nine months. But there is no consensus on how much of the ability to exercise self-control is hereditary and how much is environmental.The ability to delay gratification, like most skills, correlates with socioeconomic status and parenting styles. Children from poorer homes do much worse on delayed gratification tests than children from middle-class homes.

The concepts of self-control, delayed gratification and discipline seem so counter to our cultural values.

• We use our credit cards because we want things right away.
• We become inpatient if we wait more than a few moments at a drive-through Mc Donalds.
• We eat ourselves into obesity and poor health because it feels good, with little consideration of the long-term consequences.

The good news is that while differences in the ability to delay gratification emerge early and persist, that ability can be improved with conscious effort. Moral lectures don't work. Sheer willpower doesn't seem to work either. Policymakers rarely ever probe deeper into problems and ask the core questions, such as how do we get people to master the sort of self-control that leads to success?

1. Teach them strategies to organize their time so they finish segments of their work before they reward themselves with TV or video games.
2. Reward delayed gratification. It’s hard at times to study, practice piano or do football drills. Acknowledge your child’s efforts and specifically praise their willingness to work hard at something that won’t have immediate positive consequences. For high school students, encourage them to save some of the money they earn. One parent agreed to double whatever money her daughter saved in the bank over one year.
3. Model good behavior. Talk about your own strategies to achieve self-control. “I really feel like some ice cream right now, but…I want to lose some weight so let’s not keep any ice cream in the freezer.” Talk about what strategies you use to be successful. “I’m trying to watch less TV, so I plan one 15-minute activity I want to accomplish every night before I turn on the TV.”

Camera

A camera was stolen from our car during a customer visit at an engineering company in Gdansk. We had to drive to Berlin to get the broken window repaired.