VELOCITY - DEE JACOB [144]
“Email the details and I’ll get back to you,” she said.
The next day Sarah called back and told him:
“On four of the seven, there is nothing that can be done. On the batch at the top of the list, it’s the design spec. The chemistry and the applications require a full twenty-one hours at the specified temperatures and pressures.
“The next three – you’ll love this – there is no compelling technical reason why those composites have to be in the autoclave for twenty-three hours. But they are government contracts, and twenty-three hours is contractually specified. I was told that it would take an act of Congress to change that.”
Murphy groaned and said, “Don’t you just love bureaucracy?”
“But here, maybe, is the good news,” Sarah said. “The remaining three batches are such that we might be able to play with the time-temperature-pressure ratios. Usually, the composites that have the long soaks in the autoclave are low temp and low pressure. But if we go to a higher temp and higher pressure, maybe adjust the ambient atmosphere, we can reduce the time spent in Godzilla.”
“Reduce by how much?”
“Don’t quote me yet,” said Sarah. “We have to do some testing. But we think we might be able to get it down into the six-to-eight-hour range.”
“That would be like going from three days down to one day,” Murphy said with exuberance. “That would help tremendously.”
“I’ve got Joe Tassoni on it. If Joe says it can be done, you can take it to the bank.”
“Um … hmm, you’ve got Joe on it? My only question is, when are we going to get it?”
Sarah laughed and said, “He’s much, much better these days. I mean, he’s still same old Joe Tassoni, but we’ve got him abiding by the relay runner rules. And his piles are smaller. Plus, I’ve got a new assistant helping him stay organized and on track. I think he likes her; she’s gained five pounds.”
“All right, we’ll remind Joe that any improvement to Godzilla helps his bonus,” said Murphy.
“He knows that. All the analysts know that Hi-T’s performance affects their bonuses.”
“Then you might add,” said Murphy, “that the next time I come to Rockville, I’m bringin’ ribs – Memphis style, the way he likes ’em.”
18
On a rainy Saturday, Amy walked into her kitchen and heard a kind of whirring-buzzing sound issuing from the basement. She descended the steps and peered into the laundry room, and there was Michelle. The washer was running, the dryer was spinning, but Michelle had also strung clotheslines wall to wall and she was hanging wet laundry on these. To speed the drying process, Michelle had set up a variety of electric fans, and the laundry was billowing in the breeze of these. Amy came in and at first just stared.
“The dryer can’t keep up,” Michelle explained in a deadpan tone, “so I am elevating the constraint.”
“What a smart young lady you are,” Amy told her.
“Well, I have to be, or I’ll be stuck down here all day and all night. Since we have to do Grandma and Grandpa’s laundry as well as our own, it’s almost twice as much.”
Zelda had had knee replacement surgery a week before and was recovering. Therefore, all laundry was being done at Amy’s house.
“If only my brother would help out,” Michelle grumbled.
“Ben is helping out. He’s watching your grandfather, which is no easy task these days.”
Amy reached for the basket of wet clothes and began to help her daughter.
“Elevating the constraint,” Amy said, “what a great idea.”
“See, you think I’m not listening when you talk about work,” said Michelle, “but I’m soaking up every word.”
“Right,” said her mother.
• • •
A full year and more had passed since that spring day when they had added a few new “leaves” and branches to the Turnaround Tree. And the tree was now full grown.
At Oakton, their chronic production problems were entirely behind them. With Godzilla identified as the system constraint and designated as the Drum of operations, and everything else synchronized to its performance, the system had become reliable and predictable. Once