Finally, finally, I was able to visit my two brothers that live in the Clearwater, Fl area. Baby brother Paul is a machinist and a fine one at that. Oldest brother Pete, Floyd to you, is a welder and general all around make-it, fix-it guy. Pete has a shop on Ulmerton Rd in St. Petersburg, while Paul’s shop is in Oldsmar. At 74, Pete is retired but stays very busy in his shop making and repairing rifle bolts, and creating, if need be, small parts for rare guns. Paul does machine work for a number of large companies in the area, he still has to work for a living. Both brothers have been helping me to create a “paddle” for a game. I say “game” but what it is is an experiment that companies use to teach employees and management alike, the importance of the system in controlling the production, good or bad, of the enterprise. Called the Red Bead Game, it was first used, and popularized by W. Edwards Deming, the American statistician that taught the Japanese how to make quality products in the early 1950’s.
I made this trip with the two women in my life, my wife of 26 years, Carolyn, and her sister, Charlene. after having dinner with brother Paul on Friday evening, the girls dropped me off at Pete’s shop on Saturday morning and took off for Lakeland, a trip of 90 minutes, to see their 99 year old aunt Marie. They spent the day there and returned to retrieve me around 6 pm. From there it was off to the mall to walk and shop ’til 9, then back to the hotel.
I accomplished a lot toward the completion of the game and we all had a great time. Now it is back to work.
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