Go to Client List Return to Main Page ....a bonus for the president.....
A major fortune 500 manufacturing company contracted with a private concern to reclaim precious metals from their scrap. The president of this concern routinely traveled to the gold market in England to sell the reclaimed gold. When he was stopped at Customs on his return to Boston, with unreported funds in his possession of $30,000, the manufacturing company became suspicious and retained my services.
I arranged for an independent assay of the precious metal content of the scrap material. When the results were tabulated, and appropriate calculations performed, it was apparent that the president of the private concern had secretly sold $3,000,000 in gold over the previous three years, a significant "bonus" to the value of their contract.
The entire investigation was performed consistent with a criminal gathering of evidence, and, performed without the knowledge of the suspected felon.
....following the rules...
Product yield losses were highest in one operation. The operation was under the supervision of one of the most valued and longest tenure managers. The operation was run three shifts, but in a remote part of the plant. I was retained to survey the need for $2,000,000 in improvements to the physical plant to reduce yield loss....the amount and solution requested by the manager.
I reviewed the existing data on the operation and was not satisfied with the results. I suggested monitoring equipment (a particle measuring device) and a video camera be placed in the remote location and data taken over several days. When I reviewed the simultaneous data from second and third shifts, I found the required contamination control practices were not being followed when product was exposed, it fact, it was during these events that the particle contamination levels rose more than four orders of magnitude. Following up with optical and scanning electron microscope examination of product revealed increased particulate levels on the product.
I recommended that appropriate retraining and enforcement of current cleanroom operating standards.
....the hole in the dashboard......
Today, the automotive dashboard is a sheet of plastic with speedometer, idiot lights, and other display items printed on the back and illuminated as desired. This produces a high quality and inexpensive display device. Acceptable quality levels are maintained at a high level during manufacturing to ensure deliverable quality to the customer. Pinhole detection is one failure mechanism looked for, and when found, the entire lot of 25,000 is rejected !
The plant expert thought the problem was due to particulate contamination in the inking process. My assignment was to reduce the particulate levels in the operation. I took several rejected samples with me to investigate while planing the significant construction necessary to reduce the contamination level throughout the inking production floor.
When I observed the pinhole contaminated product, I realized the light was shining through the plastic, something I would not have thought if a solid particle was interfering with the inking process. On closer inspection, and with some micromanipulation, I discovered that the ink was covering the pinhole ! What then was the cause of the pinhole. I realized the characterization of the "pinhole" was the culprit. The defect was only a blemish where light penetrated where it was not wanted, and did not comprise an actual "hole".
Soon afterwards I determined that while the ink and the plastic were continuous over the defect, the pigment was not. I traced the origin of the defect to the ink mixing process and the use of "out of date" polymer containing gel coagulates inhibiting the penetration of the pigment. The change of polymer and the addition of an ultrasonic assisted mixing step solved the problem.
Ultimately the company performed the physical plant conversion to increase their manufacturing capability using the plans generated during this phase of the work. I became the prime contractor for this renovation, coordinating an Architectural and Engineering firm and delivering working drawings suitable for bidding the construction contract.