Author Topic: Salisbury Transmission Ltd.  (Read 16637 times)

Peg Monkey

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Re: Salisbury Transmission Ltd.
« Reply #33 on: July 14, 2019, 05:07:37 PM »
My lowest point - was undoubtedly when I was seconded to a Work Study team of axemen in 1972 (when I was 2 years out of my apprenticeship) whose objective was to cut jobs. The team was headed by the Chief Axeman a senior manager from GKN Group Head Office, 2 contract Work Study Engineers me and my mate. The logical approach was to second 2 experienced Work study Engineers from the establish STL Team and then fill their gaps with contractors but I think there was a hidden agenda, because it was such a controversial project the powers that be didn't want the existing STL Work Study Enginners  anywhere near it because of the bad feeling that might ensue. I didn't volunteer and I didn't want to be part of the project -  I would be wielding a sabre at workers I had worked with in every production unit in the factory.
Me and my mate were sent on a 3-week crash Work Study course at John Evan Associates in the Jewellery Quarter and then set to work, the GKN Manager would not at any time accept a "Existing manning level is optimal" report, the survey was undertaken, which took some weeks, and the report with recommendations was prepared and submitted.
The team was disbanded and me and my mate transferred to the established team of Work Study Engineers.
Nothing became of the report, a number of rumours abounded and included: The Axeman from GKN Group was approaching retirement and this project was to keep him out the way until then or the report was simply buried by the STL Directors.
Had I been the managing director I would have taken heed of the report but said I would achieve the reductions by natural wasteage no-one will be sacked.
I continued to hate every second I was operating as a Work Studu Engineer and eventually got transferred out of the department.
It was about then I started to question if my future lay with STL. :-\
Peg.
It's far better to look back on a rejection rather than a lost opportunity.

Peg Monkey

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Re: Salisbury Transmission Ltd.
« Reply #34 on: July 14, 2019, 05:35:05 PM »
Looking back I do think I gave up too quickly on Barbie, faint heart never won a lady and all that stuff, yes, I had a pretty considerate but emphatic rejection but no striker worth his salt ever gave up after just one failed attempt at goal.
Did she marry a loser and each day rue the fact she rejected my advance? Probably not.
So then business had to go on as usual.
Peg
It's far better to look back on a rejection rather than a lost opportunity.

Peg Monkey

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Re: Salisbury Transmission Ltd.
« Reply #35 on: July 15, 2019, 07:54:56 AM »
STL had a great heat treatment plant at Witton with full metallurgical laboratory back-up central to the quality of the finished product:  spiral bevel gear sets, the best gears are made from high nickel, low carbon drop forgings, case hardened and there were few companies in the business who could match STL's capability.
I particularly enjoyed my time in the lab where gears were sectioned and studied under a miroscope to ensure the heat treatment process was up to scratch - how do you case harden gears? - after gear cutting the gears are soaked in a furnace in a carbon-rich gas atmosphere, carbon infuses  into the steel, the longer you leave to soak the deeper the infusion - desired depth usually 0.010ins to 0.015ins, the gears are subsequently hardened.
Peg. 
It's far better to look back on a rejection rather than a lost opportunity.

Peg Monkey

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Re: Salisbury Transmission Ltd.
« Reply #36 on: July 15, 2019, 08:10:55 AM »
I didn't have any luck with Barbie but I did with other girls at the factory notably a girl from accounts, one of the secretaries, the telephonist at Bromford Lane Site and (and, this was a real coo), a girl in production control who was officially the most  desireable young lady in the factory. She and her friend made up a foursome with me and my mate (the one with the Imp). When I reported back on the date none of my mates believed (or didn't want to believe) I'd pulled it off and it was only thanks to my mate being star witness they believed me, there was a bit of a sting in the tale - more about that on the Clubs of the 60's and 70's Thread:   http://www.birminghamforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=466.msg662691#msg662691
Peg.
It's far better to look back on a rejection rather than a lost opportunity.

Peg Monkey

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Re: Salisbury Transmission Ltd.
« Reply #37 on: July 16, 2019, 07:56:46 AM »
You may be interested to learn that the little front wheel drive dumpers of the type shown in my post #34 are back to front: STL's standard beam axle, usually at the rear, was fitted to the front with steering carried out by the rear wheels, making driving a bit more tricky because the back of the vehicle swings out as you turn.
Peg.
It's far better to look back on a rejection rather than a lost opportunity.

Peg Monkey

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Re: Salisbury Transmission Ltd.
« Reply #38 on: July 16, 2019, 09:35:35 AM »
If ever a job was jinxed....One morning, on his way to work, my mate Nobby had a prang in  his Hillman Imp, he wasn't hurt but it shook him up and he'd been assigned an urgent job late the previous day, the boss was concerned he might not be in the right frame of mind for an inportant urgent job so it was reassiged to me. A contract tooling engineer couldn't fit a big cutter to a new milling machine because the bolt holes didn't line up so I designed an adaptor, it was made and came in a few days later but when our toolsetteer tried to fit it he couldn't, the adaptor fiited to the miller spindle OK but the cutter would not marry up to the adaptor.
I checked my dimensions and they were miles out, I couldn't understand how I could have made such a measuring error - everyone said I'd messed up and it took some investigation to find out what had gone wrong - it transpired the cutter I had measured was taken away for use elsewhere and the cutter the setter tried to fit later was not the same one, even though everyone swore blind it was.
I vowed never to be caught out like that again and if a similar job came up in the future I would take photos of the parts concerned as evidence.
Peg. 
It's far better to look back on a rejection rather than a lost opportunity.

Peg Monkey

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Re: Salisbury Transmission Ltd.
« Reply #39 on: July 17, 2019, 06:38:01 PM »
The largest gear sets STL made (ring gear was about 18ins dia) were for a giant tractor made by International Harvester, I suppose I must have been in my 3rd year of my apprenticeship when I got asked to accompany and engineer who had been tasked with correcting a batch of gear sets which were missing essential information, which should have been etched on the outer surface of the ring gears. We travelled early to Bradford and I was expecting a dressing down by the IH chief inspector for omitting the info' but we got the opposite, he complemented us on the quality of STL's work, always being within tolerance. O0
Peg.
It's far better to look back on a rejection rather than a lost opportunity.

Peg Monkey

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Re: Salisbury Transmission Ltd.
« Reply #40 on: July 17, 2019, 09:04:42 PM »
After training one of the many production engineering depts I operated in was Tooling Engineering, STL used Tungsten carbide (there is only one material harder: diamond) replaceable tip cutting tools, the secret with these tools is getting the timing right when  changing the carbide tip (normally each tip has 3 or 4  cutting edges) - leave it too long and the tip shatters (loosing the other cutting edges) and sometimes the holder is trashed, change the tip too early and that also costs money, my job was to calculate optimum time between cutter changes. :-\
Peg.
It's far better to look back on a rejection rather than a lost opportunity.

Peg Monkey

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Re: Salisbury Transmission Ltd.
« Reply #41 on: July 19, 2019, 08:32:13 AM »
Reliant Motors received the Royal Seal of Approval in 1988 when newly qualified driver Princess Anne chose the Scimitar GTE as her first car, the company supplied her with the prototype Scimitar GTE to much press acclaim. The GTE had a 3 litre V6 Ford Granada engine with a Salisbury rear axle, a 0-60 time of 8.5 secs and a top speed of 120mph.
So was that an appropriate car for a newly qualified driver?
The actual car was offered for sale recently on an auction site, complete with press cuttings when Pricess Anne was caught speeding.
Peg.
It's far better to look back on a rejection rather than a lost opportunity.

Peg Monkey

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Re: Salisbury Transmission Ltd.
« Reply #42 on: July 19, 2019, 02:27:09 PM »
I was in the last year of my apprenticeship when I met the love of my life, Joanna, (who was destined to become Mrs. P.M.) at The Top Rank 1969 New Year's Eve Breakout (always thought that sounded like an untimely acne infection), - Interesting I hear you say, But is Peg going off-topic recounting his romantic associations? - No. Read on, it transpired Joanna's father was a lecturer in mechanical engineerin at Garretts Green Tech, he was  chief examiner for The City & Guild Craft Practice Certificate and he had marked my exam test piece (I got a credit pass) that I made at the Birfield Apprentice Shool over 4 years earlier.
Small world, right? O0
Peg. 
It's far better to look back on a rejection rather than a lost opportunity.

Peg Monkey

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Re: Salisbury Transmission Ltd.
« Reply #43 on: July 20, 2019, 07:41:42 PM »
The day I caused Down Tools! When the GKN Axing Project had ended the team was disbanded:  The GKN Group Manager returned to head office, the two contractors departed the company and me and my mate became part of the regular work study team. One day I set-off, watch and clipboard in hand, I had been asked to time a  job and set the remuneration. The operation consisted of drilling and countersinking a number of holes in a round bar. The important principle in any Workstudy exercise (old name was Time & Motion Study) is to first establish the method is correct, only after that can the timestudy commence, I watched the operator for a few minutes and I was not happy he was doing the job in the most productive way, not surprisingly it was common practice for the machine operators to try and fool the workstudy engineer with a view to enhancing the money earned. I asked him to changed the way he was working and then I timed the job, but he refused to accept the study and wouldn't sign it off, I said i would return later when he had discussed it with his mates.
I returned a while later to a hostile reception from the rest of the section, because I had changed the method the operator had reduced earnings, the truth probably was that I'd asked him do what he was already doing but getting higher pay for the job.
The section refused to accept the study and The Work Study Manager had to sort it out, but he was delighted because it proved I was doing the job properly.
Peg.   
It's far better to look back on a rejection rather than a lost opportunity.


 

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