Chapter Seven

As Sam drove on, Jake continued to review the project plan that he was responsible for creating. The plan was for the automation of one of the production lines at Sam’s factory. The plan would displace a large number of supervisors and workers on that line. He didn’t like that part of it, but he did not consider that to be his fault. The factory had put out the job for bid and if his firm had not won it, someone else would have.

Jake’s company was a large engineering consulting firm and they did work for companies across the United States and internationally. Jake had been with them for a few years now and had worked on projects in several states, mostly in the southeast where new plants were being built. He liked traveling in the South and he liked contributing to the new plant growth in those areas. Each of the new plants started out with a high degree of automation built into the startup plans. His team just helped to make those plans a success.

Occasionally, however, his company put in bids on retrofit projects for production lines in factories in the “rust belt” of the Midwest where old factories needed to introduce automation to survive the competitive environment of business. Unfortunately for Jake, this is what was happening in Sam’s plant and Jake was sent in to make sure his company won the bid, which they had done. Work was to start soon.

Sam was understandably not happy to see Jake come into the plant. He knew that Jake was a supplier of automation and that if he was here it meant that the workforce was going to shrink again. It was hard to see Jake walking down the aisles of the plant that Sam had made home for thirty years like he owned them. He didn’t even know his way around the place, for gosh sakes, and had to be escorted around by management. Sam knew that it was just a matter of time before his peers made the family connection and he would start getting grief from them.

Jake was hoping to keep buried in his work on the trip to avoid this discussion, but technology failed him. He was surprised when he was the warning on his screen that the “battery was low and you should switch to a power outlet”. He was sure that he had plugged it in to charge yesterday, but that surety did not stop the machine from turning off moments later. He sighed and tucked the computer back into his briefcase. He stretched out his legs and stared out of the window for a few minutes of the farm fields passing by.

“Okay”, Jake began. “Here’s the deal. We won a contract yesterday to provide engineering consulting services for the installation of an automated production line in the assembly shop of your building. The installation will take place over the next six months or so and the line should be operational by summer. I’ll be supervising the consulting team.”

“Am I correct in assuming that the new line will replace the current head line that’s been running for twenty years there?”, Sam asked knowingly.

“That’s what it means”, Jake confirmed. It was strange, but even though he was a new guy and an outsider his position on the bidding team in the bid process placed him in meetings with upper management of the plant. On several ocassions Jake was privy to strategic management decisions and information involving the five year or longer direction of the plant that Sam did not have a “need to know” even as a line supervisor. Jake was obligated to keep the information confidential, but Sam was his brother. He could trust him with the information and the decision was already made.

“Jake, you know what I think about outsourcing. You know this is going to put a lot of people that I’ve known for years out of job. What happens to them?”

“Sam, I’m in a tough spot here. I didn’t make the decision to automate the line. Nuccor Motors did. Your company did. We had to bid on it, that’s what we do. If we didn’t win it, someone else would have. That’s the nature of business today.”

“You guys didn’t have to bid on it. Someone has to say no to this practice of outsourcing and stop the bleeding of jobs out of here.”

“Sam, we’ve talked about this before. I’ve explained the theory of how I see it. Times change and companies have to update to survive. Automating this plant is the only chance they have to save the jobs that are still here now, including yours. The way I see it, I’m helping to keep this plant in this town.”

“Jake, you believe whatever you have to believe to feel good about walking in there every day.”

“It doesn’t matter what I believe, Sam. Or what you believe. We’re just players in the game. These decisions are made at both of our companies at a level way above us. We both just show up and do the job that they ask us to.”

“That’s a pretty cold way to rationalize it. You see it as spreadsheets and as project plans. I see it as people that I’ve worked and sweated with for years. People that built this company and made it what it is. People who are being discarded even while the company is making money.”

“I understand all of that, Sam. Or at least I think I do. Clearly I don’t know all of those people personally and I can’t relate to that like you can. I just know the realities of business and competition today. Your company knows it can’t survive here the way things are in the long term, and they’re turning to suppliers to help them lower their costs to compete. That’s how we help them and help you.”

“You think that closing down a line full of productive people is helping me?” Sam asked increduously.

“If it keeps the plant here instead of going overseas, then yes it’s helping you. Look, I don’t pretend that I understand all of the facets of free trade or global competition or NAFTA or any of those issues. I just know my business one bid at a time. Unfortunately, this bid is in your backyard which I don’t like and didn’t want. Believe me, I do not want to be working in this plant and causing you any backlash. But I strongly believe that the fact that your company awarded this bid and is spending capital to update the plant is evidence that they have a commitment to stay here for some period of time and that should give you some comfort.”

“Comfort is the last thing I feel, Jake. The plant may stay here for a while. But what happens if they decide to automate my line? I’ve got twenty-nine years in here. I’m vested in a pension and I’m one year short of the goal line. Who’s going to garauntee me that I’m not going to get walked out of the door after all I’ve given to this place? Can you give me that garauntee? Can you give that to my wife or to my kids who depend on me?”

“I can’t. I wish I could. Nothing’s guaranteed anymore. Welcome to my world, Sam. I can get walked out of the door any day of any week on the whim of my company. That’s the way everybody works today except inside your plant. I can just tell you that I haven’t heard any plans for your line.”

“You haven’t, but that doesn’t mean another supplier hasn’t either. I’m just worried, Jake. That’s all. It’s a lot of stress.”

“I understand, Sam. But we’re not going to solve it today. Let’s just get some breakfast.” Things always got a little tense anytime they discussed this topic. And while Jake was working on this project they would be trapped together in this no-win situation.

Sam had more to say, but Jake was right. They weren’t going to solve anything today and this talk was just making them both tense. He took a deep breath and decided to just let it go. Whatever was going to happen was going to happen despite both of their best wishes.

Sam spotted a Bob Evans and slid into a parking space to change the topic over a large country breakfast.