Several months back, I was in a small industrial town in a visit to one of my old friends, a manufacturing employee. When I was there he gave me a tour around his facility as he demonstrated all the various machines and systems he has that make the place operate. One of the details, which attracted my attention very much, was the boiler room. I could never imagine how much engineering was involved in something that we so much take for granted such as heating and steam systems. The casually stated that they were obtaining parts through a trusted manufacturer of water tube boilers, and I understood how much consideration is given to such a purchase, which most people never even look at.
It made me start to think of how much of our comfort in everyday life depends on things we do not pay much attention to. The boilers are going on in the backdrop, all the pipes and valves are at work and it seems the whole thing is a micro ecosystem of machinery. As much as I thought I had understood about the level of precision and planning that goes into systems that we hardly ever think about, viewing it in person made me have a deeper appreciation of it. Even such minor choices as the choice of the manufacturer or the material may spread out to influence safety, efficiency, and the overall quality.
What actually made an impression on me was not necessarily the technical side. It was the human factor, people making checks on gauges, checking bolts, when everything is not going on all right, troubleshooting. It is such a devotion to detail as borders on meditative was it were to watch long enough, a beat to making everything hold and work.
I still am unable to stop thinking about how we very often forget about the things, which silently sustain our lives, industrial equipment or the habits people are used to in order to ensure that nothing goes wrong. It causes me to ask myself what other silent structures in our environments are quietly defining our lives, and how differently we would probably know them should we stop to observe them.
Have you ever happened upon anything of the kind--something that was operating behind the scenes and that you stopped and enjoyed what was going on?
Top comments (0)