2002-02-09 So, who do we preach it to. I use metric in my job and have done so for 14 years, but I really made no converts. Factory people don't care! They do whatever it takes to get a pay-cheque. You are not going to find them among the group of supporters.
As for being cheaper to use metric, a metric-phobe might be able to prove it is just as cheap to work in FFU. However, I have found that metric fasteners tend to cost less than FFU, but we are talking a few pennies a screw. Not much to get accountants and bean counters to take notice. Vendors will accommodate me and other customers in SI, but that does not mean they will try to convince all their clients to use metric. They go with the flow. I think I barely make a dent. But, when I do visit customer plants, I am amazed as to amount of metric machines in the factories. These machines need to be serviced in metric, with metric parts and metric tools. As long as we are an importing country, we will be flooded with metric goods and services. This is where progress is the strongest. Yet, despite all this, the average worker who sees these machines is able to completely ignore the fact they are metric and continue on in the world of FFU. To rid ourselves of FFU, we need to rid ourselves of the mechanisms of FFU. We need to stop producing inch measuring devices, fasteners, and anything else that keeps the inches alive. And even if the luddites continue to strain their brains converting data back to FFU, at least for us we can feel good in knowing that we don't have to do that. That we are in touch with the real world and not the fantasy world of FFU. John ----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Saturday, 2002-02-09 21:22 Subject: [USMA:18111] re 18078 metric for inch parts > 2002 Feb 9 > In 18015 I relayed the story that metric is so simple that > factory people who can not do fractions can make inch parts > by doing it in millimeters. > > The inference is that it is cheaper to do most production with > metric measures even for inch parts. So, we should promote > metric because it is cheaper. > > This has no relation to the change to metric in field use of > fittings. > Robert Bushnell >
