The tool shops have to start cutting steel based on preliminary data at a time where the customer is still likely to ask for changes and where CAD data for the final mold surfaces are not yet available. Due to the Ford requirement that all suppliers must have their design departments in the vicinity of their headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan, NAL has its design off1ce located in Farmington Hills, a Detroit suburb. It chances that I can participate in a meeting on a new headlight program for a Ford Van in a very early stage. It takes place at the customer, in a studio where the clay models for future vehicles are created. For sozializing, one goes line Dancing.
Summer is golf season.
No wonder that I happen to be invited by Andreas, a Hella manager, to join him for a shotgun purchase at Walmart. There we are, two Germans with little knowledge and no clue, respectively, taking most comprehensive advice from our co-worker Bobby. His genuine passion are quails, others go for deer or coyotes. After the deal is final and the paper work done, the sales clerk carries the gun, disassembled and carefully stored in a box, outside to the parking lot. The ammunition must be purchased separately.