Building A Railway - phase III

Building A Railway

Phase III

 

A Mind Numbing Journey

Little did I know at the turn of the century that the next phase of bridge building would take ten years to construct, and still not be complete. I could not comprehend at that point in time, when the suggestion was made to build a bridge out into our factory, that to do so, would require enormous resources beyond our capacity. I was ten years younger and in excellent health, the economy was booming, we had strong cash flow, we were buying state-of-the-art CNC technology, our factory was humming with the production of precision parts used by some of the world’s best known OEM’s. Life was good, and the plan to build a mega bridge for a ‘G’ scale railway seemed totally doable and within reach!

Now, I sing the words and know the real meaning of that old lament, “once I built a railway, now it’s done, brother can you spare a dime”? Time and again people would ask, “when is it going to be done”, “next year I would reply, next year for sure”. But as time marched on I began to visit a place in my head, where the question about why it has taken so long, and why it has cost so much were swirling around in a melange of emotions stained with guilt, stupidity and foolishness. Why would a grown man with wife and kids, a happy family and a successful business embark on such a quest, when countless contractors who were asked to quote on elements of the construction would decline to get involved? Why did I not heed those early warning signs before hundreds of thousands of dollars would be consumed trying to fulfill a dream?

I assured myself that they were the ones with tiny minds, and when this bridge was complete, its turn-of-the-century village illuminated, and consists of rail cars winding through fifteen hundred feet of track, they would drool with envy, asking themselves why had they not seen the greatness of my vision. Oh, how I wish Disney would have come along back then, seen the enlightenment which was propelling our progress on a feature attraction, albeit at glacial speeds, and pronounce to all “Dennis, we dub thee an Imagineer, put down your glue stick, take my hand, we want you to join an elite team of visioneers and artists here in Orlando. Say goodbye to horrible Toronto winters, and live your life inside the greatest entertainment enterprise the world has ever known.”

My eldest daughter once asked, “how much of my inheritance is in this stupid bridge of yours”? Somewhat stooped now by the toll it was taking on me, I turned to her and answered “all of it”!

There is an old expression which I have feared for some time. It helps put foolishness in some perspective by assigning this state of mind to the elderly. I’ve lived long enough to know that it is not always true. I’ve met young fools too.

In my weakest moments, I blamed the whole fiasco on the Ontario College of Art and Design, where I took many foundation art courses, rationalizing that they got me thinking laterally, they taught me how to think outside the box, now look what’s happened. Should they be allowed to defend themselves, I’m certain no one would accept blame for where I went once freed from linear thinking.

Many art projects, as new artists soon discover, take on a life of their own. It’s at that point the vision gains new energy and ideas emerge in two and three dimensions. Such was not the case with this bridge. My explanation, the scope of what was originally envisioned was just too large. That became obvious to me about five years ago as I passed through a long period of remorse.

During these months only dogged perseverance inched our project forward.

The designing and building of our bridge had many project intersections. Each decision to go this way or that was fraught with endless ‘what if’ scenarios. Countless interfaces with contractors from model builders, artists, electricians, automation specialists, structural and electrical engineers to theatre lighting specialists all resulted in bitter sweet outcomes. Vocalizing my vision to each, raised hope that somehow just talking about the bridge that ‘would be’ could in some way make it happen without further cost, delay and pain.

"When are you going to give it up Dennis" asked more than one person familiar with the timeline.

We were now entangled in an epic battle with forces mostly beyond our control. At times we had the money to make things happen, but did not know how or where to get it built. Then as a result of huge amounts of research time and travel, I knew how to build it and which contractors would build it, but did not have the money to hire them. The economic world on which our business reality and cash flow depended was beginning to shift, crumble would be more accurate. Customers fled to China and Mexico forsaking their old domestic supply chains, and with that exodus so went the inertia that powered our bridge project.

If all of this makes you want to get out the tiny violins, hold off for a bit. No I am not going to start quoting Winston Churchill, at least not just yet. The silver lining in all of this darkness was sewn by our company’s long time involvement with The High Performance Manufacturing Consortium. www.hpmconsortium.com

Fifteen years of involvement with this Leveraged Learning Network resulted in a more enlightened way to operate a manufacturing facility, where in human beings are coveted as the most precious resource. The tools taught to us, such as six sigma, 5S, value stream mapping, cell centric processes and vicarious learning experiences through countless member factory ‘talk and tours’ provided us another kind of resource on which we now depended. Continuous improvement in all core processes of the business operations provided the energy and gratification for moving projects, objectives and strategies forward a little bit, each day.

Our growth was now organic and therefore evolutionary. When you don’t have the doh ray me to force a vision into reality quickly, you’re stuck with something else. So, cobbling together what resources we did have, we turned to our team members, and there in found the ideas, the skills and elegant solutions to the challenges of getting our blessed bridge built!

 

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