Comparing Machinery with Men, “Which is the Winer, Men or Machinery?”
Long time ago, when Siam Elmatech Co., Ltd., was still a distributor of CDM ROVELLA Brand spark machine from Italy (now closed for over 20 years), Uncle Angelo Rovella, the President and Owner, visited Thailand quite frequently and spent most of his time in Sukhumvit and Pattaya areas. Quite often, he was accompanied by his whole family. I recalled one time of his visit that he was in the swimming pool or watched TV when there was Formula One (F1) Grand Prix Championship Racing, that if an Italian racer or an Italian Team or something which I didn’t remember won the racing and showed something pronounced like “Ger, Ger or else” above their heads, he would shout with great joy. He really felt it all along with them because he was a Champion before. He turned to me and asked me, “If I should let you drive the same car, would you be able to cross the finish line to become the Champion,” Hah? By the same token, when making a comparison, the same machine but with a different operator would produce a different result or in other words, the functional outcome is not comparative equal while the significant or minor problems could still be found.
There was once a lucky case when Siam Elmatech sent a machine to a customer… The machine operator worked at that organization for a long time and had extensive experience to the extent of having the comprehensive and unsurpassable understanding of the entire process that no one could mess with him. He had experience using another brand of machine with the same characteristics for almost two years. (I wonder how Siam Elmatech was so fortunate to have the opportunity to experience it there).
So many things had happened eventually causing me to be suspicious that there was definitely a payment issue getting involved because many miscellaneously minor problems that dissatisfied the machine operator kept coming up. Even when I had tried to teach or advise him, he didn’t believe me or care what I was trying to tell him but displayed his attitude of hinting that “Don’t teach a guru like me, I’ll never follow you, I’ll do what I want.” So, I had the opportunity only to gradually pass on my knowledge to such customer’s worker.
His worker clearly showed his willingness to learn and try. Believe it or not, the problems have decreased. To this day, I can confidently say that the problem is caused by the people, not the machines. By the same token, when making a comparison, a driver who was a motorcycle racing champion long time ago, when driving an F1 car that won the championship that day cannot become a champion. But if a non-champion who is enthusiastic about learning, to be trained and doesn’t give up on filling a glass to be full, his chance of becoming a champion will one day be possible.
That’s all over… it’s about to go get some hot ginger tea anyway.
Note: The name of the driver of the racing team that won the F1 World Grand Prix Championship that time was Michael Schumacher, a German, not Italian. But that day, he drove a Ferrari where its major manufacturing base was in Italy.
