Just Not in Time

Saturday October 8, 2011

We approached the narrow stone-faced bridge on the north side of Bliss, NY with caution; we were in no hurry.

That gave us all the more time to observe the 53-foot trailer and tractor, minus part of its roof, which had been driven under the  12’5” rail bridge, severely buckling the trailer bed.

Pieces of aluminium were in the roadway, the driver was still in the cab, but on the phone, so we thought the incident had occurred only a couple of minutes prior to our arrival.

Embarrassing for the driver; will he lose his job? I hope not.

How did he miss the three signs “12’5” bridge ahead” which we had spotted?

The third sign is clear in real life – not so clear in the screen snapshot from Google Maps.

Maybe the driver had entered from Garry Road and was distracted enough to miss the one sign he passed.

Had the dispatcher told him the height of his rig?

Was this a novel route for him?

Had he been TOLD to take this route for pickup and delivery?

Who knows?

What we do know is that much of today’s business functions on the “Just In Time” principle, where parts and material are expected to be delivered within a 2-hour interval.

Our driver will not be going anywhere fast.

1: For one thing the trailer will have to be loaded onto a flat-bed and carted away; a difficult job on a narrow village road deep in The Southern Tier .

2: Of course the police will be involved.

3: And there’ll be some report-writing taking place at a desk in Head Office.

4: The county engineer will need to be summoned for an on-site inspection of the bridge, to certify that damage is minimal and that the structure is sound.

5: Until then the railroad engineering department will not open the track above for freight traffic, which means that freight trains will need to be re-routed.

6: Which means that other lines and junctions in the region will become crowded or confused.

There’s more than a simple delay in a truck load of parts when an incident like this arises.

It can affect the local economy of the region for weeks!

P.S. The Toronto Sun in “ Calls for a freer border ” claims “When we have delays at the border and we don’t receive, just-in-time parts and components to an (auto) assembly plant; that’s lost revenue of roughly $1.5 billion per hour,” said Nantais.

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