Overview

You are just out of college, tops in your class, interviewing for a job in manufacturing, and now you're on your way to visit the shop floor. The noise is the first thing you notice as you enter the plant the relentless pounding of huge presses clanking away at huge sheets of rolled steel. You stop to observe one of them and note that it looks something like a character from Star Wars a thing with huge mechanical jaws that slowly open, then slam shut on its prey, to cut and pierce and shape it into a new form before spewing it out, only to quickly grab another.

In the aisles, vehicles scurry along with an endless variety of materials hanging precariously from forks that extend from the lower carriage. You notice people working around machines and equipment. Some are almost shouting to be heard and occasionally their body language and facial expressions indicate frustration if not downright anger.

Your guide leads you on to a zone where he stops to let you observe an operator changing over a die. The person at the machine is conducting the setup by himself, straining to loosen a series of bolts that tie the die to the bed of the machine. As you observe, the operator's rather awkward-looking crescent wrench slips off a locknut and before he can recover, his hand slams against the bolster plate. The man drops the wrench on the floor and grasps one hand with the other, bending over in...