On 2010/06/10, at 20:11 , John M. Steele wrote:
He doesn't get much sympathy in the comments.
One "fact" he has wrong. The auto industry wasn't targetted. The
Big Three CHOSE to go metric in the early 70's, mostly because of
their foreign operations. We drove our suppliers including the
steel industry. The steel industry claimed to Congress that the
cost of conversion would be astronomical. When GM said they were
buying metric sizes, the industry said "what sizes would you like,
sir." The rest of us followed in their wake. No other industry
supplying us put up much of a fight.
However, I will freely admit that if it really sold more cars, we
would be glad to divide the engine displacement by (0.254 dm/in)³.
I'm not sure why we prefer liters and the European industry prefers
cubic centimeters.
I hope the author doesn't think engine displacement is the only
thing metric on the car. :)
Dear John,
I have a few responses for you today – this is the first.
Let me first of all assure you – based on our experience in Australia
– that your support (promotion) of the decimetre will delay
metrication in your work group, your company, your industry, and your
nation dramatically. I know that it is a legitimate part of the SI and
that it has some advantages with respect to aspects of accuracy and
precision, but from our actual factory and workshop experience it
slows down the social processes that are so important to metrication.
I suspect that the reason Europeans prefer centimetre based units is
because they have had the time necessary to adjust to them – typically
between 100 and 200 years from my observations. I am pointing this out
(not because I wish to encourage a raft of diatribes about centimetres
with conjectures about what good things they are?) but because I
really don't think that it is your goal yo slow the process of
metrication as much as you can.
With respect to the anonymous author, I doubt that he or she has any
idea of how many parts go into designing and making a car (say 10 000)
and and how many all metric measurements are involved in making these
parts (about 100 000).
Cheers,
Pat Naughtin
Author of the ebook, Metrication Leaders Guide, see
http://metricationmatters.com/MetricationLeadersGuideInfo.html
Hear Pat speak at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lshRAPvPZY
PO Box 305 Belmont 3216,
Geelong, Australia
Phone: 61 3 5241 2008
Metric system consultant, writer, and speaker, Pat Naughtin, has
helped thousands of people and hundreds of companies upgrade to the
modern metric system smoothly, quickly, and so economically that they
now save thousands each year when buying, processing, or selling for
their businesses. Pat provides services and resources for many
different trades, crafts, and professions for commercial, industrial
and government metrication leaders in Asia, Europe, and in the USA.
Pat's clients include the Australian Government, Google, NASA, NIST,
and the metric associations of Canada, the UK, and the USA. See http://www.metricationmatters.com
for more metrication information, contact Pat at [email protected]
or to get the free 'Metrication matters' newsletter go to: http://www.metricationmatters.com/newsletter
to subscribe.
From: Pat Naughtin <[email protected]>
To: U.S. Metric Association <[email protected]>
Sent: Thu, June 10, 2010 2:58:54 AM
Subject: [USMA:47631] Metric motors in the USA
Dear All,
This item from USAToday might interst you:
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/driveon/post/2010/06/metric-madness-how-automakers-refuse-to-give-it-up/1
Cheers,
Pat Naughtin
Author of the ebook, Metrication Leaders Guide,
seehttp://metricationmatters.com/MetricationLeadersGuideInfo.html
Hear Pat speak at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lshRAPvPZY
PO Box 305 Belmont 3216,
Geelong, Australia
Phone: 61 3 5241 2008
Metric system consultant, writer, and speaker, Pat Naughtin, has
helped thousands of people and hundreds of companies upgrade to the
modern metric system smoothly, quickly, and so economically that
they now save thousands each year when buying, processing, or
selling for their businesses. Pat provides services and resources
for many different trades, crafts, and professions for commercial,
industrial and government metrication leaders in Asia, Europe, and
in the USA. Pat's clients include the Australian Government, Google,
NASA, NIST, and the metric associations of Canada, the UK, and the
USA. See http://www.metricationmatters.com/ to subscribe.
