The Promotion

By Harry E. Berndt

 

Everyone agreed that Joaquim Canato was indeed the right choice to be the supervisor in the tire assembly department; he was the perfect choice. He was admired and liked, even loved, by most people in the village. It seemed that he could do anything better than anyone. In the bull ring he was the brave captain of the Focados, the team that subdued the bull at the end of the bull fight. He thrilled all the ladies of the village as he leaped between the horns of charging bulls, stopping them so they could be to be led from the ring. He was the village Patron’s favorite and he made Joaquim second only to himself in the Bull fighter’s Club. Joaquim was now the proud employee of the new factory, and no one in tire assembly could produce tires faster or of better quality than he.

Jim Lyle arrived in the village about six months earlier to begin training people for the new plant start-up. Most of the equipment for the start-up was in place and there were some people trained for every operation; tread extrusion, fabric cutting, bead building, tire assembly, curing, final inspection and shipping. Production was going on for over a month and although slow and still a little unsure, everyone knew his job; not at an American or British piece-work level, but adequate for a beginning. It was now time to choose supervisors for each department, and Joaquim was chosen for the tire assembly department.

Jim first met Joaquim when he needed someone to paint the factory water tower. It was a big job and he asked the village priest, Father Botaquillo, and the Patron, Jose’ Costa, if they could recommend someone who was competent and trust-worthy to do the job. Almost simultaneously they both said Joaquim Canato, of course. The tower was painted within a week and it looked magnificent. It was the most beautiful site in the village, and higher than anything people ever expected to be built. Up until that time, the church, which was built in the tenth century as a mosque, was the highest and most magnificent structure.

Jim Lyle walked through the factory and felt proud about what he had accomplished. The formal opening, the inauguration of the factory, was still over a month away and everything seemed to be moving along very well indeed. All the employees were trained and producing tires that, for the most part, met the specifications established by the engineers in the United States. Of course, the level of production was very low and there were quality problems, but that was expected on a start-up operation. Every morning he and the quality control manager held a meeting where they dissected several tires that had been rejected during final inspection. They would find blisters caused by humidity or the builder’s failure to correct for folds or fabric tears. But overall Jim Lyle was satisfied that the plant was making progress and even though there were too many rejected tires for a functioning plant, the figures did not seem too bad for a new start up. Jim felt sure that the quality would improve, as well as the production levels.  

Production and quality did improve in almost all the departments, but in the most important department, tire assembly, things seemed to worsen every day. Plant directives were ignored and building specifications were not followed. In the quality control morning meetings, the problems not only worsened, but they were problems Jim Lyle had never seen before. The most egregious were those involving ply selections that differed from those specified for a particular size tire. There were other problems, too, such as the scheduling tire assembly to match that of the production of plys, treads, or beads. Mass confusion ensued, and it became obvious that Joaquim was unable to cope with the problems.

What to do? To remove Joaquim from his position of tire assembly supervisor would cause him to lose face in the village, but to keep him in that position became impossible once Lyle became aware of the depth of the problem. He could give Joaquim an assistant who might be able to correct errors as they occurred. Or, Jim Lyle could spend more time in the department and assure that errors were discovered and corrected. These were not reasonable solutions though, so maybe Joaquim would have to be demoted to tire builder. In thinking about moving him back to tire builder, Lyle came up with a better solution, but one that was more or less the same. He would promote Joaquim to master tire builder for research and new tire production.

So, Lyle gave Joaquim a small increase in pay and posted the announcement of his promotion. Once again Joaquim was perceived as a man who could tackle any job. He remained the most admired man in the village; a daring captain of the village Focados, and the man in charge of research at the new tire factory. A new supervisor was appointed who always deferred to Joaquim on matters concerning new tire production. It was only right, because after all he was Joaquim.