Lab builder

 

 

Looking back at my career I’ve worked either for large companies ( Unilever, Castrol ) or very small ones ( 15-20 people ) Large companies are well resourced and offer things like travel and training opportunities more easily. On the other hand they require a degree of specialisation and the individual lacks autonomy. After I suffered a stroke I was very pleased to be in a large company that could pay me for the 7 months I was absent.

A small company is quite different. Your individual contribution is clear, it is less bureaucratic, and you are expected to be much more self reliant.

When I joined Techtron, a small West Midlands company, I expected the small company ethos but I wasn’t quite prepared for starting the technical department by building my own laboratory. I was allocated a large empty room in a newly leased warehouse. I was provided with a desk and filing cupboard.  Electricity and water supplies were fitted by professionals but thereafter I was on my own.

I soon decided the way forward was to fit out with self assembly kitchen furniture. This provided the type of storage and resistant work surface I needed. I didn’t intend to handle very noxious materials so things like fume hoods and extra ventilation were not required. The room was surrounded by half height windows so the safety issue of working alone was covered by the two warehouse staff who had their office immediately adjoining.

Once I had a plan actually building the units was fairly simple. A couple of weekends sufficed. I had access to a local equipment supplier and materials were often scrounged from chemical suppliers. The products we sold were made under contract and these companies felt obliged to be quite helpful. I didn’t have a specific equipment budget but I bought basic equipment to enable product development. I couldn’t have afforded anything but the most basic scientific instruments so for anything elaborate I had to go outside, scrounging if possible, paying if not. I made “guest” appearances at previous employers on some occasions to use particular apparatus. In at least one case I caused a senior manager to do a double take on seeing me commenting “but I thought you had left”. Fortunately he didn’t enquire too closely into my reason for visiting.

Although not that long ago I didn’t have a computer initially. This was in the days of the IBM compatible, MS-DOS machines. I recall scrounging software for it and then being told off later for not having proper licences. I had just started to do some real work using a Lotus 123 clone called As easy.. as before I left.

Access to scientific literature was by Birmingham Central Library. They lacked everything but the most common scientific journals but I mostly needed fairly standard reference works which they had. I didn’t have borrowing status but I photocopied what I needed. I did have to buy some very specific works on regulations etc from HMSO because I needed them on my desk for immediate reference.

I did need to, very occasionally, buy in specific expertise. For example when I needed metallurgical examination of some aluminium truck wheels which  we had been accused of corroding we sought Sheffield University’s metallurgical evidence. When they affirmed as an independent source that we were not to blame we avoided potentially costly damages and retained an important customer.

I had a very good relationship with guys in the warehouse. I think they regarded me as a great curiosity and didn’t hesitate to play practical jokes on me. The most elaborate was after an incident where my “ magic” mug had been accidentally broken. Incidentally the magic was that it changed colour according to the temperature of the contents. I was rather grumpy about this as I much valued the mug. Some days later there was another crash outside the lab followed by plenty of exclamations and oaths. On dashing to find out the problem I found another mug of mine in pieces on the floor. Just as I was winding up to a tantrum I saw I was being laughed at. On inspection the broken mug turned out to be the original which had been stuck together again.

This prankster was something of a ladies man. He was in his sixties but rather tall and distinguished looking. One snowy day seeing a lost young lady outside he asked her in for a cup of tea. It was my habit to break up the day by doing small jobs around the warehouse. This day I was sweeping the snow off the entrance ramp. The young lady asked if I wasn’t to be invited in to take tea out of the cold. The prankster grandly said” Don’t worry about him , he's only the snow shifter”.

The young lady, Philomena, thereafter used to call on us for a tea break and she then found I was the technical manager. She used to entertain us with stories from her sales rep life. Her boy friend was a naval officer and we heard accounts of attending naval events some of which sounded rather grand.