This past week Bob and I were asked by two different groups of business executives / movers and shakers to share with them the OESH story. One of the groups wanted to feature OESH as a model of success in innovation. First, we’re flattered. The only other nationally based company that they had asked to present to them was Whole Foods.
I started by going through everything in my usual lecture style…completely unrehearsed. There’s all my research, then there’s all the manufacturing. And then there’s the disruptive technology and the entire re-inventing of everything. With only an hour, I had to leave out about a million things but that’s what the question and answer session is for. So, one question…“What was the worst day you had in all of this?”
That would be that one particular day last summer that I was in the factory until almost midnight, cleaning the resin bath on the filament winder. Every day, it took a full two and a half hours to clean the resin bath. It wasn’t the actual cleaning as much as it was the stress that if we missed a spot, the equipment would be permanently frozen the following day. I had to figure out a better way but just hadn’t yet.*
And another question…“What was your best day?” The answer to that one is easy. “Today.”
It’s the feedback from you all that gives me that satisfaction that a physician can only dream of. I am helping in a way that I know no one else ever could. I get a lot of hugs…all you local folks, keep them coming. And all of you who are too far away, keep emailing us your stories…we’ll keep posting them on “OESHers: SAY”.
*I did figure out a way such that cleaning the resin bath only takes about 15 minutes, and is, I daresay, an absolute joy.
