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48 The PCB Design Magazine • September 2014 "Are you going to hire me to bring heavy copper into this place?" Mike laughed again and said, "Of course I'm going to hire you; why do you think we flew you all the way out here today, for the hell of it? Why do you think you're here?" Bob smiled and said, "All right then, I'm ready for that tour now." And off they went, trailed by all of those engineers ready to see what this lunatic had to say about their shop. I had seen the shop and number of times, so I decid- ed to pass on the tour. The last I saw of them, Bob was waving his arms and talking a mile a minute while Mike kept laughing and his boys took copious notes. They were together for four hours on that tour, and judging from the way they got along that night at the steakhouse, I would say that it was time well spent. Six months later, I was sitting in Mike's office. We were going over the project and talking about how we could best move forward when I remembered Bob's challenge to Mike. "Remember when Bob came here that first day and you were about to take him on a plant tour?" I asked. "And he told you that he could save you a quarter mil- lion dollars while he walked through the plant." "Yeah?" Mike replied. This time a grin spread across his face. "Well, how did that turn out? Did he in fact save you all of that money? Did you save $250,000 by using his suggestions?" "No we didn't get $250,000 in savings." "Really? That didn't work, huh?" "No I didn't say that. I said that we didn't get $250,000 in savings, because what we did get was $500,000 in savings," said Mike. "He found a ton of things that we could save money on and I had them all implemented right away. That guy was worth a lot of money to us. You gave us a pretty good deal with that guy." The Board That Can't be Built Bob Tarzwell: Every once and a while, you wind up in a situation where you just want to yell, "What are you, stupid?" A few years ago, I was consulting for a high-tech com- pany. The lead engineer was a know-it-all who personified "The Emperor's New Clothes." He had eight engineers under him, all armed with PhDs, all following him around like he was, in fact, the emperor. They nodded their heads no matter what he said. The story starts with me being called into a meeting. These engineers wanted to make a new PCB for the em- peror, and they handed me a fancy piece of paper that showed the design all neatly done in AutoCAD. It certain- ly looked like a real PCB. As the engineers were discussing the new design, I checked it out for the first time. The board measured 230 by 230, with nine 25 wide holes in 25 wide pads with 25 wide traces. Now, mind you, none of the so- called professionals had any PCB design or manufacturing experience. I interrupted by blurting out, "Excuse me, but what scale are you using? Is this 230 mils, inches, millime- ters, or furlongs?" The room fell eerily silent, because the lowly consultant PCB expert had dared to question the emperor's men. The look on their faces said it all. Who is he to question the emperor's people who have PhDs? The emperor's head guard royally stated, "Microns." He shot me a look that said to keep quiet. Now, here's where I got fired. He kept dis- Every once and a while, you wind up in a situation where you just want to yell, "What are you, stupid?"A few years ago, I was consulting for a high-tech company. The lead engineer was a know-it-all who personified "The Emperor's New Clothes." He had eight engineers under him, all armed with PhDs, all following him around like he was, in fact, the emperor. They nodded their heads no matter what he said. " " bob and me A PCB POTPOURRI continues