75 min for an oil change?

While an engineering aide is working on the same problem in the lab.

Tester

Most problems these days are multidisciplinary and you need folks to device solutions and others to test them. Why two or more teams? Specialization makes for fewer mistakes.

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I actually have my books in the Kindle app on my smartphone.

Most engineers I’ve worked with and who work for me, at times will stair into space thinking about solutions. But 99.999% of the time they’re working out solutions on paper/whiteboard or on the computer. They also AVERAGE 50+ hours a week on SALARY. I’ve found that engineers LOVE what they do and working really isn’t work to most of us. It’s therapy.

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And a mechanic standing around twiddling his thumbs might also imply a shop that’s not well managed and/or not very profitable and successful

A successful and well-managed shop should have more than enough work to keep everybody busy all day long, with enough left over for the next day(s), imo

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That’s cute reply insinuating that the aide does the real work. But the ā€œaideā€ is working at the direction on the engineers, not on their own. We employ Engineering Technicians, not aides. An Engineering Technician has a degree and we typically require a minimum of 5 years of experience working in a lab environment. They are perfectly capable of executing testing, performing evaluations, making modifications, providing formal test reports and so on. What they typically cannot do is design engineering. Otherwise, they would be a Design Engineer and be compensated appropriately.

My title was Engineering Aide/Lab Technician.

Tester

Did you know that 99.999% of statistics are made up numbers? :wink:

Of course they are not sitting there for ridiculous amounts of time like that. However, it only takes a few moments for someone in production to walk by at the right time and see them pondering the problem.

I find it hard to believe that mechanics do not also stop to consider their next move when confronted by a perplexing problem. Of course many repair jobs may be routine but there has to be some that are not and require some deep thought to assess what the next steps in the diagnosis might be. I prefer to develop mutual trust in working relationships. If I had a shop and the mechanic was standing there idle, I would trust they are thinking about some difficult issue to resolve versus assuming they are just slacking off. There will always be the occasional person who violates the trust but deal with them individually versus punishing everyone with micromanagement.

I couldn’t tolerate any job where the manager was breathing down your neck all the time.

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Years ago, my dentist would be working on my teeth, all of a sudden he’d walk out of the room and disappear for 15 minutes. When he came back he’d say ā€œSorry, I was puzzled & I had to think on how to solve this tooth problem of yours in the other roomā€ … the delay worked out well for me, his ultimate solution usually worked.

Agree on both counts.

when you say ā€œusually workedā€ . . . that makes me think his ultimate solution sometimes did NOT work :thinking:

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I wasn’t talking about stats on the internet. I specifically stated it was the engineers I’ve worked with and who work for me.

Neither could I. And I’m NOT one of those managers. I have worked for those type of managers before or have worked with them. And every single one were NOT very technical trying to manager engineers. Some companies (like the insurance industry I consulted to for years), would only hire managers if you had a business degree. Someone with business degree managing engineers on an engineering project is so screwed up. Some were engineers with an MBA…but those are very rare. Most were just business majors with zero technical experience. The manager has no clue what is going on. They make extremely ignorant and WRONG decisions. It’s a disaster waiting to happen. If the project is ever successful, it has NOTHING to do with the manager.

99.999% productive activity during a 10 hour work shift allows for a break time of 36 seconds.

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You are absolutely correct.

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Enough rest! Get back to work you mud puppies…dance…dance! :laughing:

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I had a small sign in my office with the following message:
The beatings will continue until morale improves

My Principal glanced at it, and–luckily–he didn’t quite comprehend the message.

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What everyone said plus extra time if its a turbo

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There are some schools of thought that a vehicle with a turbo should have its oil filter pre-filled with oil when possible so that the turbo will not run dry when it is re-started. Is this what you are refereeing to when you ask about oil change times? I would image that the oil filter can be pre-filled while the oil is draining out of the pan, besides how long does it take to prefill an oil filter?

I have a 2001 Dodge Ram 2500 with a turbo powered diesel and the oil filter cartridge fits into a canister with a screw on top. So after I change out the cartridge, I can prefill the canister and just screw the top back on. But in reality, it takes longer to write this than it does to do it…

I don’t know any good mechanics (especially if they do internal engine repairs) that don’t put some oil in the filter before installing on any engine, N/A or boosted… The oil pump has to fill the oil filter before it starts filling the bearings etc, that is the whole point of a filter is to filter out the trash before it hits the bearings…

Sometimes on the Big Block Mopar’s, you have to burb the oil filter to get it flowing…

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What if the oil filter is mounted horizontally?

Tester

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