Memories of a Shop Floor

I began my career as a mechanical engineer working on the shop floor of Harita Fehrer Ltd. What I was doing had nothing to do with code, and everything to do with Software Engineering.

I worked as a quality engineer on the shop floor. My job was making sure that the instruments that were used to measure our products - Harita Fehrer was into polyurethane foam manufacturing for seating systems. I learnt statistics at this company from a man who taught me one of the most important lessons of my life regarding teaching. You do not need to be fluent in a language to be a great teacher. I learnt Measurement Systems Analysis from this man, and I am forever grateful for the oppurtunity.

I moved on to work at India Nippon Electricals Ltd, as an engineer in the “Production Engineering”. This was separate from Production, as it was more related to process and tooling management. I was in a team where I got to see how the plant operated - INEL was into manufacturing ignition systems for two wheelers. I also got to learn a lot about the Toyota Manufacturing System from the General Manager of the plant - a man who taught me things that I never realize that I would need in a career at software development.

The things I learnt at these companies taught me a lot about processes. I learnt about statistics, and I continue to think about how much there is in common between software engineering and a shop floor.

Warning

This post is a work in progress.