A Visit to America
I had been developing the notion that I needed to visit America and, with a great deal of assistance from my father’s numerous friends and connections at US steel companies and equipment manufacturers it seemed possible. With only an ill-formed plan in my mind, I met with Bill Mather, Colonel W.H. "Bill" Mather, OBE, TD Ret’d, the Managing Director, who had been my career mentor for several years and I discussed the idea with him. He listened and, to my utter amazement, said “Bloody good idea, Keith. Bloody good idea! Let me talk to the Chairman”. He did so and the Chairman agreed to sponsor my travels, expenses and salary for the trip, which would take six months.
The details were finalized and in early March 1965 I boarded a huge TWA Boeing 707 for the journey from London to New York. In those days it was possible to fit comfortably into the Economy section seats of planes and they were not jammed to capacity.
The details were finalized and in early March 1965 I boarded a huge TWA Boeing 707 for the journey from London to New York. In those days it was possible to fit comfortably into the Economy section seats of planes and they were not jammed to capacity.
On arriving in New York, which was quite as I had expected, I was met and escorted to the Yale Club for my first night or so. A couple of meetings had been scheduled in Manhattan, which I enjoyed and after a day of sightseeing, riding up the Empire State Building, visiting Tiffany and Co. with hands sewn into pockets, it was back to Idlewild and a flight to Pittsburgh.
Geoff Beard, Chairman of United Engineering and Foundry Co, met me at the airport and after checking me into the Pick Roosevelt Hotel I spent the first of my days at United's offices at 948 Fort Duquesne Boulevard totally unaware that in years into the future this would be my office. My plans took me to Warren, OH, Elwood City, PA to Cleveland, to Middletown, OH to Chicago, to Hamilton, ONT to Pittsburg, San Francisco, Los Angeles, CA and back to the midwest again for most of the summer at Inland Steel, marriage to a lady from Kenilworth, IL and car ride down to New Orleans, badly timed to coincide with Hurricane Betsy, a quick retreat to Galveston, TX before the long drive back to Chicago and a return with my new wife to England.
My experiences in the US required a report, which took several weeks to prepare. I still have a copy and it is incredibly boring. The most profound and, retrospectively amazing, discovery in the US was the mechanical equipment suppliers’ method of establishing a project engineer to coordinate all technical details within the company and between the company, the electrical and automation systems supplier and the customer’s own project manager. At Head Wrightson this critical function was absent and the execution of contracts managed to happen without a project engineer/manager. The mechanical designs were done and issued for manufacture; the electrical department worked with the electrical supplier; someone must have talked with the customer, but who this might be was unclear. At any rate, I must have been sufficiently convincing in relating this methodology because the new function of Contracts Manager was established and I was it. Naturally, this did not go down at all well with the Mechanical Engineering Department and even less with the Electrical Department, both of whom were justifiably concerned that my remarkable lack of knowledge would not bode well.
Geoff Beard, Chairman of United Engineering and Foundry Co, met me at the airport and after checking me into the Pick Roosevelt Hotel I spent the first of my days at United's offices at 948 Fort Duquesne Boulevard totally unaware that in years into the future this would be my office. My plans took me to Warren, OH, Elwood City, PA to Cleveland, to Middletown, OH to Chicago, to Hamilton, ONT to Pittsburg, San Francisco, Los Angeles, CA and back to the midwest again for most of the summer at Inland Steel, marriage to a lady from Kenilworth, IL and car ride down to New Orleans, badly timed to coincide with Hurricane Betsy, a quick retreat to Galveston, TX before the long drive back to Chicago and a return with my new wife to England.
My experiences in the US required a report, which took several weeks to prepare. I still have a copy and it is incredibly boring. The most profound and, retrospectively amazing, discovery in the US was the mechanical equipment suppliers’ method of establishing a project engineer to coordinate all technical details within the company and between the company, the electrical and automation systems supplier and the customer’s own project manager. At Head Wrightson this critical function was absent and the execution of contracts managed to happen without a project engineer/manager. The mechanical designs were done and issued for manufacture; the electrical department worked with the electrical supplier; someone must have talked with the customer, but who this might be was unclear. At any rate, I must have been sufficiently convincing in relating this methodology because the new function of Contracts Manager was established and I was it. Naturally, this did not go down at all well with the Mechanical Engineering Department and even less with the Electrical Department, both of whom were justifiably concerned that my remarkable lack of knowledge would not bode well.