As clichéd as it is (and as clichéd as it is to begin the year writing about it) I reluctantly make a few easy-to-achieve resolutions every year. Little things designed to “reboot” my direction and evoke a sense of achievement. And, like the proverbial snowball that gains mass and momentum, my hope is that these little accomplishments evoke bigger and better goals to be attained.
That’s the idea anyway.
For the most part 2019 isn’t too much different. Spend more time reading, eat healthier, exercise more, make time for yourself, listen more... you know the drill.
But this year… I’m also banning some words and phrases from my vocabulary.
“Plug and Play” is the first. NOTHING in packhouse automation is “plug and play”. We have almost 60 Sorma pallet strappers around the country and they are renowned for doing the job, day in day out. But each one has come with its own intricacies at installation time and, just like a snowflake (albeit a large steel, mechanical one), each set-up is completely individual from any other. “Plug and play” is for home appliances…not packhouse automation.
“Busy”. I think the most common answer I get to the question “How are you?” is “Busy”. To me “busy” is a mind-set, not a state of being. I’ve pledged to think of as many synonyms as I can this year, but avoid the negative connotations, for “busy”. But, if you hear me say “I’ve got a lot on at the moment”, you know I’ve run out of better phrases…
“Robots and automation are the be all and end all of the future packhouse”. Alright, so I’ve never actually said this. I’ve never even implied it. I still think we’re a LONG way off a “lights out” operation that processes our amazing NZ produce. Something so precious needs the right planning and attention to detail to remove the attention of a human. But we DO need to look at incremental gains in this space.
All this in a quest for 2019 to be the best and biggest year yet.
They may be small resolutions… but just like the proverbial snowball…