Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1483130
8 SMT007 MAGAZINE I NOVEMBER 2022 Nolan's Notes by Nolan Johnson, I-CONNECT007 The Conveyor Belt Effect How many times have you watched a con- veyor belt in a movie played out for comedic effect? It's a familiar trope: e belt starts out slowly, then increases its speed, until chaos ensues. ink "I Love Lucy," "Star Wars," and Charlie Chaplin in "City Lights." ese are perfect metaphors for this issue on workflow management, where planning your workflow on the manufacturing floor in these challeng- ing times sometimes feels like being just one step away from disaster—or safety. I remember being introduced to the "con- veyor belt" effect in my early college days. I had started dating a young lady and because neither of us were flush with cash, our dates consisted of attending a film lab for the Eng- lish department's "History of Comedy in Film" course. We weren't enrolled in the course, yet we were rich in resourcefulness, so it was a perfect date. We'd hold hands and laugh while watching the likes of Charlie Chaplin, Key- stone Cops, Laurel and Hardy, Harold Lloyd, and Buster Keaton (my personal favorite). ese early films taught me a lot about the roots of comedy in cinema and, as it turns out, quite a bit about workflow management.