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Daleks and Other Randomness
Dec. 3rd, 2008 08:39 amYesterday I went with my boss to Honda to give a presentation to other Honda suppliers about our incredible new databases. The presentation part was ok, but afterward I got to go on a plant tour. My boss at first wanted to cut out early, but since I'd never seen the plant he said we could stay, which I really really appreciate.
OMG you guys, the Honda plant is run by Daleks! Ok, maybe not quite, but they do have all their material handling done by robotic carts. The carts go and pick up full boxes of parts, and deliver them to the station, and then wait, grab the empty box and run it to that location, go get more parts, and so on and so forth. They're not on any sort of track that I could see (I've seen ones run on a magnetic track before). They just run around and do their thing. Luckily they do stop if someone is in their way.
The other startling thing is that I have not gained any Nano weight. Usually I eat so badly for the month that I put on a fair amount of weight. And even though I know I ate badly this month, I came out exactly where I started. To the ounce.
Also, Japan has the best office supplies. I am extremely picky about my pens. I have tiny cramped handwriting, so I want a very thin pen. Until now my ultimate pen has been the uniball signo micro in blue. It has a 0.5 tip and not only does the blue write better than the black, it is a navy-ish blue which I never see in blue pen ink. It stands out in a subtle way. But last week in Detroit I found one better. This would be a JAPANESE uniball signo. And it comes in 0.38 tip. OMG! Love!
OMG you guys, the Honda plant is run by Daleks! Ok, maybe not quite, but they do have all their material handling done by robotic carts. The carts go and pick up full boxes of parts, and deliver them to the station, and then wait, grab the empty box and run it to that location, go get more parts, and so on and so forth. They're not on any sort of track that I could see (I've seen ones run on a magnetic track before). They just run around and do their thing. Luckily they do stop if someone is in their way.
The other startling thing is that I have not gained any Nano weight. Usually I eat so badly for the month that I put on a fair amount of weight. And even though I know I ate badly this month, I came out exactly where I started. To the ounce.
Also, Japan has the best office supplies. I am extremely picky about my pens. I have tiny cramped handwriting, so I want a very thin pen. Until now my ultimate pen has been the uniball signo micro in blue. It has a 0.5 tip and not only does the blue write better than the black, it is a navy-ish blue which I never see in blue pen ink. It stands out in a subtle way. But last week in Detroit I found one better. This would be a JAPANESE uniball signo. And it comes in 0.38 tip. OMG! Love!
