Diligent

Diligent is not my middle name and here it is, May 27th in the year of 2014. Didn't I say I was going to write more often? Okay, I'm guilty.
I was going to write something about some of the branch offices that I visited and I might as well start with one in New Mexico. Intel (and PCI) had built a Super Fab, or 'chip foundry' in Rio Rancho, just 20 minutes north of Albuquerque; right in the shadow the towering Sandia Crest.
After the 'fab' was complete and in full production it was decided that we might as well leave the people who were in charge of the construction, right there, in the desert. They found an office complex nearby and began to build a business. Their main customer was Intel, of course. Intel was constantly swapping out machinery within the fab and we were the people to do that work. And since technology attracts technology, other electronic companies were buying and building.
They hadn't been in their new office more than a month when I was called to visit them and help setup their labor control and estimating. I made my plans...
I was somewhat familiar with New Mexico, having been to Albuquerque and Santa Fe in the past. Rio Rancho, however, was very different. Before Intel moved in, Rio Rancho was a sleepy little town far off the main highway. But now, there was building going on everywhere. In the desert of course. You cannot escape the fact that you are in the high (5;282') desert. Step outside the city limits and you are in the territory of the early pioneers that moved through this valley.
I wish I could report that my training was a success, but it wasn't. I would start a training session and half way through, the estimator would get a phone call and he would have to go out to Intel and handle some problem. We would try again the next day and usually with the same results. At the end of the week I would have to make an appointment to return and do the same thing all over again. I think I went there five times and each trip resulted in the same scenario...but, on the plus side, I got to eat at some great restaurants!

Next time, I will write about a classy branch office.