[USMA:17872] metric in Texas

[kilopascal]

2002-02-01   I have been to Texas twice since the middle of January and was mildly surprised to find the companies that I visited had a stock of standard metric fasteners in their stock room.  Most of it is needed for the machines they use, as most are imported and are 100 % metric, except for the gages, which are dual.  However, the machines that are computer controlled are set to operate in inches.   Even the raw materials, such as steel plate that was seen in the warehouse had dimensions marked only in millimetres.  And the millimetres were rational.  Every-so often I did see where some local inspector had marked the steel in FFU unites (inches) with a marker.  The original metric dimensions were stencilled on the plates.   The odd thing is, the use of metric is driven by the large amount of imported metric machines and raw materials. Yet, the average worker in these plants is basically oblivious to this and is able to ignore the metric around him and view all of this through FFU glasses.  An 8000 x 3000 x 11 mm steel plate is viewed as a 26 x 10 feet,  7/16 inches thick.  In one case where I did point to the metric markings on the plate to the guy I was with, he just made a noise and started to walk away.  Apparently he didn't like the idea that the plate had no inch markings on it for 'mericans.   Unless something is done, this country will increasingly purchase and use metric products, but the metric aspects of the products will be ignored by the masses, and these products will be thought of in FFU.  How many people, after 23 years of being metric know that wine and liquor come in metric containers?  I'll bet very few.  Most ignore the metric and refer to the sizes by their old FFU names, even if the FFU names are no longer true.   John