Rooster's Revenge

While thumbing through the GM Die Standards last night, two things were lost upon me until that moment.

One is that I am the last surviving industry active person to have written a die standards book for an OEM. From scratch. I guess that is kind of like being the oldest person alive in a morbid way.

The second is the organization of the book is still relevant today. The organization and technical numbering system were my invention alone. What hit me was it will be 19 years strong in a few weeks. This is the longest running die standards organization format in the history of GM.

The book prior to mine was in existence for about 8 years. The book prior to that also had a completely different numbering system and content organization. That book lasted for about 5 years. The one before that was in circulation for around 15 years or so.

The key is to create something that is specific enough to be useful yet general enough to be flexible as times change. If you can combine those two characteristics, then it will stand the test of time.

This is the start of week three with my new employer … and I absolutely love it!

For the first time in decades, I am happily content. This the perfect position with the best people I have worked with since the 20th Century.

I realized today that I have come full circle.

Sure, returning to my roots here in Detroit is part of it.

All my life, folks called me “Timmy”.

I remember correcting someone early on at GM about that. From that point on, everyone, including CEO Jack Smith – believe it or not – called me Timmy.

There was a time when you could walk into just about any die shop in town where they only knew Timmy. Tim Stephens meant nothing to them. Most never bothered to learn my last name.

Well, there is another “Tim” in my department of six.

It has been confusing to everyone having two Tims.

Until today.

“Do you mind if we call you Timmy?” my boss politely asked.

“You mean instead of ‘no – the other Tim?”

So, there you have it. Full circle.

And I could not be happier.

I was nervously waiting in the K1 lobby at the historic Fisher Body Headquarters building on July 21, 1986. I was an overwhelmed 19 year old kid that could not believe I was standing in a building that John DeLorean once ruled.

See, it was my first day at General Motors as an apprentice on the die engineering apprenticeship. Over 20,000 people took a test that year. Only 12 people off the street got this coveted opportunity.

At 6:45 AM, Chris Colley comes walking down the steps from the second floor. “Are you here for the die engineering apprenticeship program?” he asks me with an expressionless face. I manage to say the word “yes”.

“Follow me”, was his only response.

We walked through the engineering space. The biggest room I had ever seen. Bay after bay of eight foot height vertical drafting boards that had to be 30 or 40 yards long.

The lighting was very bright, like a stadium. It was as loud as a stadium filled with rowdy sports fans. Between the 500+ people, high ceilings, glass windows on two sides, and tile floors, there was nothing to soak up the sound.

And no smoke eaters to soak up the thick haze of cigarette smoke in the air.

To an impressionable 19 year old kid from Detroit, it was intimidating.

As we made our way to a conference room, I look at the die drawings on these vertical boards. My first thought was that this was an endless sea of intersecting lines. My second thought was I am in over my head. Way over my head.

Chris introduces two journeyman trainers to the group of 13 apprentices (one was an existing GM employee). We were about to embark on a nine month boot camp to begin our 7,328 hour apprenticeship on engineering dies. The two trainers were going to take us from knowing nothing to designing dies on our own so we can function in the smoke-filled drafting room.

“My name is Ronny. You WILL call me Ronny!”, the first trainer barks to us. The second trainer, Boettcher (rhymes with poacher), is off to the side with a giant “the cat ate the mouse” grin on his face.

At this point, the experience is a cross between Full Metal Jacket and Deliverance. It is only 7:05 AM, and I am forcing back the urge to vomit.

“I am not Ron. That makes me sound like a pimp. And don’t call me Ronald. My mother calls me Ronald and I hate it”, he says, “It’s Ronny. And that is rule number one.”

He continues, “Rule number two is find out what they don’t like and give ‘em plenty of it.”

Now, I am confused. He hates being called Ronald, so do we call him Ronny or Ronald? Is this a test? Why did I quit my job to come here?

“Rule number three is you are pukes. Worthless apprentice pukes.”

I think, that is convenient because I feel like I am going to puke all over your expensive cowboy boots. And I know you won’t like that either.

That was 23 years ago today.

The program was a great experience and I do not regret a single minute of it.

The best part for me is the tight-knit group of wonderful people I hired in with. After all these years, we still stay in touch.

Happy anniversary to this blessed group : Chris, Larry, John, Doug, Ian, Kris, Grant, Terry, Anne, Danno, Gaspare, and Frank.