One Man is Automating the Packaging Process in His Factory

Used to work in a factory making personal care products. I created hair gels, shampoos, conditioners, moisturisers, cologne, perfumes and so on. I created them all by myself from the gathering of the ingredients from the warehouse, mixing of the ingredients using industrial mixers and scales, and cooking the products into large industrial sized vats.

If I was a one man army creating the products using industrial equipments then the packaging process is an entirely different thing. It is all done manually by several people. From the sealing of the containers with their caps to putting them in their box packages the process is done by several people. This is a big salary expense for the factory.

I know the company is aware of it because they instruct these same people packaging the products to do odd jobs while they wait for the products to be created and be available for packaging. They really have nothing to do at times that they just idly wait relaxing for long periods while waiting to be instructed to do a task.

The company has been slowly automating. They do not have the budget to buy expensive automated machines but have a maintenance man who is mechanically knowledgeable that he is able to slowly build machines both electrically and manually powered to ease the workload of the people packaging the products.

He creates these machines during his spare time after doing his maintenance tasks. He does not waste his time. He is given a small budget to work on these contraptions mostly using spare parts from old machines. It does take him time though to produce a machine because he has to study, create and then test the machines repeatedly until they fit their purpose.

He is able to build machines that puts the cap on the packaging of one of the products reducing the wrist sprain of the packaging workers. This resulted in the company having a faster and more safe packaging process. He was also able to build a conveyor belt for packaged products reducing the travelling time of workers between working areas and much more.

The packaging workers have legitimate reasons to fear for their jobs. They can see the writing on the wall. Someday the entire packaging process will be automated that there would be at most one worker ensuring that the automated packaging process system does not go out of line and the maintenance man to solve the problem should it occur.

This maintenance man was already old when I worked in the factory. He should be nearing senior age now. I do not reckon he would run out of earning opportunities should he leave his job in the factory. He could become a consultant for automating factory processes because of the many number of years experience he has maintaining and creating factory machines.

He can sell the blueprints or copies of the machines he created throughout his career as a maintenance person. He can teach his knowledge at engineering and technical schools. He did not waste his time during break time. He never smoked and would sometimes eat his lunch while working just to have time to create his machines.

Conclusion

He invested in saleable knowledge with his time in the company while his co-employees have stagnated in terms of their worth as an employee. This is a similar story happening all over the world. Many employees never progress beyond their original jobs and even salaries while those who study their companies and learn while they work become valuable individuals.