Robots are People Too

Ok, robots need time to think. If they didn't, then any action they did would be instant. Ok, it may look instant, but when a robot does an action, it has to run a program at the speed of light. it has to use all the little chips and whatnot to open gates and close gates and blah blah blah... It takes a second, trust me. Like when Windows boots up, it takes a minute or two.

We need to give time to our robot to make sure that the building takes place every day. If it doesn't, then we get back logged and nothing gets done. We have to make a MASH schedule until our robots programing can be done. Just a small set of routines to make everything run a little smoother.

Here is a list of stuff that needs to get done:

1. Order Entry
2. Materials ordering
3. Production schedule
4. Robot Building
5. Invoicing
6. Art
7. Cleaning
8. Shipping
9. Deposits

This interim schedule will suffice for now while we get the robot built. I could even be the framework of the programing to come. Print the list and start now! time's a wasting! Gee Hah!

Side Note - A word about getting it done.

When the lights come on and the machines warm up. Get motivated. Start the job. Decide that the pain of late jobs, rushes and shit storms are worse than the pain of being a little confused on how to start. Just start. If we need more material, get on the phone and order the material. If we are out of paper, order the paper.

If there is a box of orders waiting to go out, get them out. It only takes a half an hour to ship them. Just do it! Decide to get the jobs out right away. make it your intention to get the jobs out of the door. That way they will be paid for quickly!

If we have the paper, but not the aluminum, print it. If we have the plastic but no magnets, engrave it.

Decide to get the job done fast. Procrastination is a lie, the pain of rushing is no fun. The pain of starting is a lie. Just start and get them all done. The machines want to run. we will make money if they are running, we will loose money if they are idle.

make it happen. Papper Doon.

Building the Robot Continued - Jobs in Progress Shelves

We took a look last week at the Raw materials we needed to organize to build this fantastic robot called Survival. In order to make it automatic, we made sure every piece of raw material has a space and every piece of raw material is in that space.

We were successful for the most part and as we work further, we will give our robot some tweaks as we go. We must finish the shape of the chassis that we are building so we will start work on Jobs in Production shelves and organizers.

These shelves will have jobs that are in progress and are pending processing. When starting jobs or reserving material, we need to utilize the shelves for that material. Since I used all the blue bins for the raw material, there needs to be another way to go about this.

I find that if I build the box or envelope that the materials will be in, and label it right away, there will be no reason put the raw materials anywhere else. The process might go like this:

1. Start the job by opening eventum and choosing the job
2. Print the Shipping Label for the job and attach to box
3. Place box on shelf
4. process name tags
5. place them in the box with enough pins/magnets to complete the job
6. Mark down that these need post production

Simple and easy. There should nothing on that shelf except for boxes of material with labels on them.

Still Putting the Survival Robot Together - Materials management continued

We are continuing to build a "robot" analogy that will make survival automatic. taking the routine things we have been doing for the last year and making them so simple that we can do them in just 4 hours. Leaving us with time to work ON the business instead of IN it.

The Robot is starting to take shape. One thing that building the Chassis of this robot will do is get our minds focused on work flow. As we go through every step of our daily life here at INSIGNO, we will get a gritty, reals sense of what we really do here. without all the messes and shit storms. As we continue the process of looking at every station in a physical sense (using screwdrivers to physically put the robot's chassis together), we will find out what is wasting time and what is doing us good.

Yesterday, we took a hard look at the Raw materials. We placed them into as many bins as we could spare to get the pile off the shelf. As we continue with the Raw Materials, we will find out what else can be done about the shelves and bins. We can dream up and execute ways of putting the materials away in a real place for good.

The small bin drawer has many useless boxes filled with all sorts stuff we no longer make. these can be placed in a "storage" bin to throw away later or given away to someone. The empty bins will be replaced with magnets, pins, clips and every other small part that we use.

The shelf boxes that we use over the Vinyl plotter must be separated in to shelves once and for all. Taking measurements and cutting the wood must be done before we can put them up.

The shelves must be measured for usage. What goes on that shelf?

• The small-drawer organizer
  
• The Plastic Bags
• Computer and monitor
• Bulk stock of pins and magnets
• Shadow board for Vinyl plotter tools (knife, squeegee, ruler, tape)
• Masking

As for Cleanup, under the desk must be absolutely clear so that a chair might fit under it and so that it can be sweeped. This work station might be used for other process later once the vinyl plotter is obsolete, but for now, its in service and we will treat it as such.

Once all these materials are organized, there will be no way for us to put something in the wrong spot. We will merely take from the station, use and put back. This will help us to make work easy.

If you know you have to look for tools, then you have to clean a table to work on a process, you will be very frustrated and you will avoid the work. Work avoidance does not come from wanting to do fun stuff, it comes from not knowing how the work will get done. Organizing and cleaning the work stations will solve that. No more junk.

To summarize, here is a task list for today:

• Clear stuff from small-drawer organizer
• fill organizer with useful relevant supplies
• Measure the box shelves
• Cut the wood for the box shelves
• Put up shelves
• Make a shadow Board
• Put away the bulk findings
• Clean under Shelf
• Put away computer on shelf

Organizing Parts to Build the Robot Chassis

Building a physical robot requires knowing what the robot must do. We know that our robot must take on the job that we humans have been struggling to do (making enough money to pay the bills). We must also know what the robot will be built from (resources like raw materials, people, systems).

When we organize the shop, we are far more equipped to handle quick orders. I mean, the orders that come in that just need a few parts, and out the door it goes. Orders need to be the easiest part of my day.

When the afternoon crew come in, they will take the processed plastic and metal and they will to do all the post production, QA and packaging (the time waster stuff). So my part of this will be to lay out jobs on to the machines and press GO. Once complete, the next one gets laid out and so on. At the end of the day, there will be a large amount of post production to do that I will not be responsible for.

None of this will be possible if every table is filled with mess. We won't have the materials if we cant find them in a pile. We won't even look for them if its not mindless. It can only be mindless if the materials are in the same place each time.

Raw Materials
Once and for all, there will be a place for all raw materials. I will provide the necessary bins and dividers to make sure the raw materials are accounted for. when you have an order for white plastic, you simply go to the white plastic bin. Easy as that.

If there is a place for everything, then everything can be put back in its place. Here is my list for that:

1. All sheet and scraps will have bins that are labeled and put on the shelf. If we have no room to lay materials in a big pile there won't be a pile.
2. Magnets and pins will be placed in the drawer divider so that we eliminate any boxes on shelves. Bulk magnets and pins must be put on a stock shelf
3. There must be a clear place to put waste aluminum and plastic.
   
4. Labels on shelves might get people to put stuff back where they found it. We'll see.
5. Garbage and paper bins must be accessible to everyone.
   

When this gets to be a habit and checklists are made in the Programing. We will never have to worry about how much work it is to do a job. Just walk out there, Grab the material and go.

I'm Not a Robot But I Play One On TV.

I like robots. I especially like the 40s and 50s version of the walking, talking robots with clampy hands and whirling lights for eyes. Sure, actual robots that do real work like our laser engraver are cool, but the romance of the "think for yourself" kind of robots are cool. The lower-tech, the better.

To concentrate on success, I need to make survival my own personal robot. The SERVivor3000. It needs to be equipped with the clampy hands of time management, the whirling lights of follow-ups and the walk and the talk to get the job done as it has been.

This robot will be programmed walk from month to month carrying the income to pay the bills. Because its a robot and not a person, it will be able to do all of this in less time than it takes me, the lowly human to do it. It will leave me with time to find out what I need to be "successful" (whatever that means).

When programing a robot's arm to move, you must first tell the robot it has a "rest" position. This is the place that it will come back to, a staging point for all its movements. Then you have to tell the robot of its limits, the maximum amount of movement it can do physically. Then you control the robot with numbers to make it move within those bounds relative to its rest position.

That being said, my robot will need to have limits (Time, Money, Difficulty) and a rest position (routine). Then the robot will be controlled by the numbers (sales, production, invoicing, billing). These will be part of a great formula that will allow me to set survival on autopilot giving me plenty of room to "succeed" (whatever that means). My Robot will do the fighting for me.
What will I need for this step?

• A Physical Robot: the organized shop and office, the running software, the materials in stock for orders.
• A Controller for the Robot: Myself and people i can count on to get the job done efficiently.
• Measuring physical limits: How Much Money do I need, How much time will it take, How hard and stressful will it be
  
• Find a rest position: A routine that works to make it automatic.
• Write a program: Make a series of checklists for each step of the routine and subroutines.
• A technical manual: To let other people know what has to be done each day.
• A Power Supply: Without the energy an motivation, none of these actions will be able work (except for the technical manual)

In the weeks to come, we will discuss each of the parts of the robot and how to make it operate efficiently, without the a lot of energy.

Should I Survive or Succeed?

If you fight to survive, you will win the fight and you will survive. If you fight to succeed, you will win the fight and you will succeed. You just have to fight. You have to be committed enough to the end result to battle through everything that comes at you.

I have been committed to making sure I had enough food on the table, to having my bills paid. I have been committed to having enough gas in the tank to get me to the next pay cheque.
-It totally works!

have survived that way for years. Sometimes there would be financial emergencies that get in my way. I fought hard to get around them. I always was working an angle to get where I needed to be: at the next pay cheque.

Name Tag Talk will document my change from Fighting to Survive to Fighting to Succeed.

What will that look like?
1.) It will take me knowing that no matter what happens, I must know that survival will be put on auto pilot. I have been doing it for long enough that I should know the steps in my sleep.

2.) Once that is complete, I will have to define what "Success" is to me. It is so different for everyone that the word itself is meaningless.

3.) Once Success is defined, I will need to brainstorm what the "battlefields" are that I will have to vanquish in order to win said success.

4.) Work the battles one by one and put them on auto pilot.

In order to do this, I will have to work very slow at each step moving it ahead one step at a time. The Red Bucket has taught me that there is no better way to change than slowly. Like cooking a marshmallow over the fire, if you roast it slow like my Mom does, it tastes caramelized. Stick it in the fire and it burns (then you have to eat off the burned shell and start again)