Bean counters?

Thread Starter

GopherT

Joined Nov 23, 2012
8,009
I always wonder how a "novice" gets into these situations in the first place..
Not to mention how they determine that they need (or think they need) exactly 54.6V to charge a battery.
Nor how they find (or think they have) a battery charger that puts out 57.1V exactly..

Of course I always wonder why you guys just throw out "solutions" without any of the necessary details or confirmations.
I love to provide solutions.. But I hate wasting my time more...
I Agree that it is tougher to get the OP to spill the details (requested in Post 2) if he is already getting solutions.

Mod edit: This has been moved to Off Topic from this thread:

http://forum.allaboutcircuits.com/threads/how-to-drop-57v-to-54v.106711/

The OP/TS is not around.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

tcmtech

Joined Nov 4, 2013
2,867
Personally I have found that the devil, or at least his minions, are typically best found in management postions.
 

tcmtech

Joined Nov 4, 2013
2,867
Interesting so many people have such trouble with the HR dept. I for one have always gotten along with them great no matter what company I was in. Maybe I have a HR personnel type personality so they see me as oneof their own? o_O
 

cmartinez

Joined Jan 17, 2007
8,220
Interesting so many people have such trouble with the HR dept. I for one have always gotten along with them great no matter what company I was in. Maybe I have a HR personnel type personality so they see me as oneof their own? o_O
As long as they don't confuse you with Catbert... ha ha ha... :p
 

Thread Starter

GopherT

Joined Nov 23, 2012
8,009
No matter what they are called or where in the world the ply their trade, the all do a lot of damage.
The biggest problem comes when they want to measure profitability of a single product or production line with tax accounting or financial accounting rules when they should be using managerial accounting specific to that line (real selling price - real cash expenses = profit). Once they confuse the situation with depreciation, utilization rates, overhead, ...), there is no way to fill up idle production time with low margin products to keep the machines running. It takes a strong manufacturing engineering team to teach the accountants whats-what sometimes. The bottom line questions is, "do we make more money at the end of the year by doing it or not doing it".
 

#12

Joined Nov 30, 2010
18,224
I stayed out of that 57 volt thread and a lot of others the last couple of days. I seem to be feeling less willing to spend time sorting out misconceptions when I have real work to do. Most of you know about, "winter chores" from a Florida point of view. Must get to the Automotive Dismantling and Recycling Emporium (junk yard) while it's cool enough that I don't spend half my time wiping sweat out of my glasses.''

"Just a used gear shifter for my Aerostar."
"Aerostars haven't been manufactured for 18 years!"
"I know. That's why mine needs parts. :p"
 

cmartinez

Joined Jan 17, 2007
8,220
I stayed out of that 57 volt thread and a lot of others the last couple of days. I seem to be feeling less willing to spend time sorting out misconceptions when I have real work to do. Most of you know about, "winter chores" from a Florida point of view. Must get to the Automotive Dismantling and Recycling Emporium (junk yard) while it's cool enough that I don't spend half my time wiping sweat out of my glasses.''

"Just a used gear shifter for my Aerostar."
"Aerostars haven't been manufactured for 18 years!"
"I know. That's why mine needs parts. :p"
Good luck in your endeavors...
 

Reloadron

Joined Jan 15, 2015
7,501
Interesting so many people have such trouble with the HR dept. I for one have always gotten along with them great no matter what company I was in. Maybe I have a HR personnel type personality so they see me as oneof their own? o_O
Always made it a point to get along with HR, matter of fact married a HR administrator 25 years ago. :)

As to the thread in question? I tried but gave up real quick when questions went unanswered.

Ron
 

wayneh

Joined Sep 9, 2010
17,496
The biggest problem comes when they want to measure profitability of a single product or production line with tax accounting or financial accounting rules when they should be using managerial accounting specific to that line (real selling price - real cash expenses = profit). Once they confuse the situation with depreciation, utilization rates, overhead, ...), there is no way to fill up idle production time with low margin products to keep the machines running. It takes a strong manufacturing engineering team to teach the accountants whats-what sometimes. The bottom line questions is, "do we make more money at the end of the year by doing it or not doing it".
Bean counters aren't alone in mis-applying their tools. I once developed a product idea that would have freed up half the capacity of our plant. I excitedly told the President of the company - a chemical engineer - and he wasn't interested. Fixed costs wouldn't change, and in his opinion we wouldn't be able to sell any more, so all I was doing was creating idle capacity. I picked my jaw up off the floor and backed away slowly.

My point is, you nailed it. If the engineers don't work and educate the bean counters, awful decisions get made. The death of any company begins when the bean counters gain control. They need to be a service function, like the janitorial crew, not the driver of the business. The people running a company need to know both customers and production, so that the company makes what the customer wants, using resources that the company has uniquely in the market.
 

JoeJester

Joined Apr 26, 2005
4,390
They need to be a service function, like the janitorial crew, not the driver of the business.
Interesting concept. Unfortunately investors and owners of a business want a "return on investment." If there were no profit motive, it's a hobby.

Watch the show "shark tank" ... it provides some insight on investors and businesses.
 

Thread Starter

GopherT

Joined Nov 23, 2012
8,009
Interesting concept. Unfortunately investors and owners of a business want a "return on investment." If there were no profit motive, it's a hobby.

Watch the show "shark tank" ... it provides some insight on investors and businesses.
Engineers know as well as accountants what is profitable. It is a question of who eventually answers to whom that sets the pecking order and culture of an organization. If the accountants start asking questions and manufacturing has no reasonable answers, the CEO starts wondering why there are no good answers and power goes to the financial team. If accountants implement KPIs that make no sense, engineering should challenge the KPIs and ask for justification. Life becomes much more pleasant when you work to reasonable goals that drive profitability rather than simply driving more "green lights" on the kpi chart.
 
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