Question #17

[fbhjr]

This is in answer to the frozendoll meme I started earlier.

#17) What you do at work?

I answer these questions!
(OK during lunch or breaks I will work on them.)

I am the “Lead Mechanical Engineer” for the my division of my company.
I have 3 engineers, 2 designers and sometimes an intern that I oversee.

My division makes “giant robot freezers”.  Or, automated cold storage
systems for the medical industry if you want to be less Terminator about it.
They are fairly cold; -4F/-20C for the main body of the system and
-80C/-122F for the storage and sample processing.
The standard for the machine is based on 1.4ml test tubes.  The machines
the company made when I started held about 100,000 tubes.  The machines
we’re making now go up to 12,000,000 tubes.

I started working on this about 3 years ago.  At the time I was the only
one full time on it.  Now there are about 40 people on it full time.
Initially I worked with my boss and the person who founded the company,
sold it to a bigger company and came back as a consultant.
We spent months just doing concept ideas with very large and complex
spreadsheets to determine how big the finished machine would be, how fast
and how much power it would take.  All years before we put one together or
really designed the subsystems.
That was a lot of fun.
“What if we did it this way instead?”
I’d have to determine the impact to the system, make some sketches and then
evaluate it.

These days, when we are on the verge of shipping it, it is mostly trouble
shooting the final system operation and making some improvements to things
after test.

But, it is remarkably close to how we envisioned it 3 years ago.  And, the
cost is within 5% of what we estimated more than a year before it was
actually made.  I’m pretty happy with that.  Three folks in an office
talking about a giant robot and being able to figure out how much space it
will take, without actually doing the design is something I’m proud to have
done.  And, looking at the prints of a preliminary design, to get the cost
within 5% is outright amazing.

Comments

[palusbuteo.livejournal.com]

well, now that you explain it like this, all of your work and frustrations don't sound so bad

'course I know better. But, as you said, despite the setback and some roadbumps this project and
system is amazingly...um...cool ;D

[cosmicirony.livejournal.com]

I see what you did there!