Making It in America — Vocabulary
Adam Davidson
The Atlantic 2012-1
(Auto-generated)

Standard was one of hundreds of aftermarket manufacturers and distributors, many still owned by the founder, in many cases an immigrant, or his children.†1 more

But around the time Maddie was born, two simultaneous transformations hit these workers.†1 more

A few months ago, in a meeting like this one, Standard engineers evaluated a type of ignition coil—the tiny voltage transformer that sits on top of a spark plug and converts the battery's 12 volts into the 30,000 volts needed to fire a spark.†

Yet however chaotic and contradictory these forces can be at any moment, over the years and decades they point in one direction: toward fewer jobs for low-skilled American workers.†

She doesn't know how to maintain a tolerance of 0.25 microns, or what tolerance means in this context, or what a micron is.†

Its size can vary considerably without causing any problems in the engine, and for that and other reasons, John says, its manufacture requires nothing like the precision needed for making a fuel injector, so it doesn't need to be made on the most expensive machinery by the most highly skilled workers.†

Like so many parts of the modern car engine, the fuel injector seems mundane until you sit down with an engineer who can explain how amazing it truly is.†

Industrial profit margins are notoriously thin to begin with—typically in the low single digits—and reduced profits or losses would drive down Standard's stock price, making it a likely target for predatory acquisition.†

Economic slowdowns are, perhaps paradoxically, a good time for the aftermarket auto-parts business.†

Standard doesn't sell the big stuff—batteries, engine blocks—but it does sell many of the cables and sensors and electrical components that surround those large things.†

Metal is cut into a precise shape in the "unclean" part of the factory and is then washed in a huge industrial washing machine to remove any bits of dirt, flakes of skin, or other contaminants, and, pristine, enters the clean room.†

But these programs suffer from all the ills in our education system; opportunities go, disproportionately, to those who already have initiative, intelligence, and—not least—family support.†

Based on the car's speed, ambient temperature, and a dozen other variables, the computer tells a fuel injector to squirt a precise amount of gasoline (anywhere from one to 100 10,000ths of an ounce) at the instant that the piston is in the right position (and anywhere from 10 to 200 times a second).†

He was quite good at the programming language commonly used in manufacturing machines all over the country, and had a facility for three-dimensional visualization—seeing, in your mind, what's happening inside the machine—a skill, probably innate, that is required for any great operator.†

The Remnant Workforce Tony Scalzitti, the factory manager, guides me through the logic of Maddie's employment.†

He paid for these acquisitions by borrowing money or selling more company shares.†2 more

By the end of the day, the trainee will be as proficient at the laser welder as Maddie.†

He is somewhat shy and talks quietly, but when you listen closely, you realize he's constantly making wry, self-deprecating observations.†

In the pre-computer age, machines were laid out in long rows, each machine tended constantly by one worker who was considered skilled if he knew the temperament of his one, ornery ward.†

Not infrequently, Standard finds that by doing so it can control costs, quality, and delivery speed far better, and thus can better serve the superstores.†