I also work in mfg, as a consultant. I try not to talk politics with operators, but yeah what I do hear anymore isn’t excited or even half-hearted. Just kinda resigned.
On the engineering side, the operators are the machine better than I ever will, so their input is critical.
Some are a bit reserved around salaried folks, as the koolaide drinkers up front tend to be strictly business and not show much loyalty to the operators.
Hearing them out on politics or whatever they want to talk about helps break down that hesitance to tell me what’s really happening. I’m not going to narc on them to management about the shortcuts they’re taking to circumvent a design flaw if it means they TELL me about the flaw, and we can try to resolve it.
I also work in mfg, as a consultant. I try not to talk politics with operators, but yeah what I do hear anymore isn’t excited or even half-hearted. Just kinda resigned.
On the engineering side, the operators are the machine better than I ever will, so their input is critical. Some are a bit reserved around salaried folks, as the koolaide drinkers up front tend to be strictly business and not show much loyalty to the operators. Hearing them out on politics or whatever they want to talk about helps break down that hesitance to tell me what’s really happening. I’m not going to narc on them to management about the shortcuts they’re taking to circumvent a design flaw if it means they TELL me about the flaw, and we can try to resolve it.