Brain Fade

I work as the Engineering Supervisor in a company of 40 employees, with a grand total of 4 engineers reporting to me. I kinda like the small atmosphere because I can supervise but still, at times, actually do some engineering work. I've been there only 2 years, one as a mechanical engineer, and one as a supervisor. Yep, kinda small but owned by a corporation with something like 30 relatively small companies spread around the globe. Unlike our European counterparts we've never had trouble being profitable until now.

Like other small companies, we don't do any real manufacturing on site. All of our parts are imported, most through Malaysia. That's the only way we can compete internationally. Our assembly workers are down to 30 hour work weeks but we've only lost 2 people so far, one from assembly and one from the office.

We're managing to survive by tightening the belt extremely tight. We're watching every dollar spent, doing cost reduction measures and trying to predict future sales. So far we're breaking even financially and will do whatever it takes to stay that way. Unlike the Fed government.

Like any other sales downturn, the engineering department is buried. Combining this situation with the fact that I'm in the midst of actually building the department and how it should operate, hopefully you'll understand if I post a little less than in the past. I come home every night with brain fade. I'll have something in mind that I want to say, only to have it completely disappear when I sit down at the keyboard.