cctalk Digest, Vol 10, Issue 54 - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

23 Jun 2004

...
  Date: Mon, 21 Jun 2004 11:58:45 +0100
 From: "Geoffrey Thomas" &lt;geoffreythomas(a)onetel.net.uk&gt;
 Subject: Re: Modern Electronics (was Re: List charter mods &
  headcount... ;	-))
 To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts"
  &lt;cctalk(a)classiccmp.org&gt;
 Message-ID: <000101c457bc$253c6640$bb72fea9@geoff>
 Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="iso-8859-1"

  Don't forget that there is more then one
generation at work in an industry
 at one time. Lots of people on this email list probably work with younger
 techs who don't know half of what they do. Once the senior people retire  (or
  get fired because they cost too much on a
spreadsheet) its up to the  younger
  ones to pull the slack (if they were smart enough
to hire any before the  old
  ones got the boot), and quite a few are not up to
the task. It takes time  to
  notice your workforce is deficient, and by then
its too late to do  anything
  about it.  
 This is what has happened to the rail industry in Britain, it frightens me
 to think of the skills that have been lost -particularly in track
 maintenance -not very high tech. you may think , but the number of
 crashes/accidents we've had since privatisation started on an accountant's
 spreadsheet. The fact that the industry now swallows more money for an
 inferior service is common knowledge , we all know where the money goes
 (went - it's called asset stripping ) but vested interest and political
 lethargy prevent any radical solution.As with our health service there is
 now an inverted bloated bureaucratic pyramid stuffed full of accountants and
 clerks.

 Geoff. 
 I worked many years in the rail running trades in Canada. As in many countries
the workforce has been slashed, while the top end has ballooned. The caboose
which was once the last human warning source has been replaced by a sensor.
Sensors can't see anomalies such as a "hot-box" on passing trains or
problems
with the boxcar string itself. As we all know electronics are plagued with many 
anomalies. And even the best software designers can not possibly duplicate
the warning signs learned by many years of experience of being there. Does the
public think that a computer can duplicate the knowledge of a flight controller ?
We have many years to go to replace the often flawed knowledge of humans
but bean counters should be easily replaced and the "decision-makers" were
outmoded years ago if sufficient will were available. Watch out for "Hal"
tho, he might be a clone of some psychotic Enron "executive" 

Lawrence