1、大学英语精读第 1册 (6)UNIT 6TEXTSam set out to improve efficiency at the shirt factory but, as we find out later in this unit, his plans turned out not quite as he had expected.Sam Adams, Industrial EngineerPf you ask my mother how I happened to become an industrial engineer shell tell you that I have alway
2、s been one.She means that I have always wanted everything to be well organized and neat. When I was still in elementary school, I liked to keep my socks in the upper left-hand drawer of my bureau, my underwear in the upper right drawer, shirts in the middle drawer, and pants, neatly folded, in the b
3、ottom drawer.In fact, I was the efficiency expert for the whole family. I used to organize my fathers tools, my mothers kitchen utensils, my sisters boyfriends.I needed to be efficient. I wanted to be well organized. For me, there was a place for everything and everything was always in its place. Th
4、ese qualities gave me a good foundation for a career in industrial engineering.Unfortunately, I was also a bit bossy and I wasnt a very good listener. Youll see what I mean when I tell you about the first project I ever did after I finished my bachelors degree at the university.After graduation I re
5、turned home to my small town in Indiana. I didnt have a job yet. Mr. Hobbs, a friend of my fathers, owned a small shirt factory in town. Within the past five years it had grown from twenty to eighty workers. Mr. Hobbs was worried that his plant was getting too big and inefficient, so he asked me to
6、come in on a short-term basis as a consultant.I went to the plant and spent about a week looking around and making notes. I was really amazed at what I saw.Most curious of all, there was no quality control whatsoever. No one inspected the final product of the factory. As a result some of the shirts
7、that were put in boxes for shipment were missing one or two buttons, the collar, even a sleeve sometimes!The working conditions were poor. The tables where the workers sat were very high and uncomfortable. Except for a half hour at lunchtime, there were no breads in the day o relieve the boring work
8、. There was no music. The walls of the workrooms were a dull gray color. I was amazed that the workers hadnt gone on strike.Furthermore, the work flow was irregular. There was one especially absent-minded young man in the assembly line who sewed on buttons. After a while I recognized his as “Big Jim,“ who used to sit behind me in math class in high school. He was very slow and all the shirts were held math class in high school. He was very slow and all the shirts were held up at his position. Workers beyond him in line on his shift had to wait
