This manufacturing plant is getting its first network. That means running cable in a plant not designed with a network in mind, says a network admin pilot fish hired to get it done.
"My co-worker was a very capable, likeable fellow who had no prior computer experience, let alone cabling experience," fish says. "But he was a fast learner who thought outside the box, and we worked well together."
One task is to run a network cable to a remote corner of the plant where materials are kept. The challenge: lots of traffic involving large, heavy forklifts.
Fish's co-worker spends a week working on the cabling. Then he calls fish over to make sure it's all OK before it's connected to the network.
When fish arrives, his co-worker proudly points to an aisle where the cable is about 12 feet up and attached tightly to the tops of the material bins.
That doesn't look right, fish tells him. You'll have to change it. Co-worker protests that it's well above the tops of the forklifts.
"At that moment, a forklift came zooming through the aisle with a load, its forks fully raised in the air," says fish. "The pallet of material sliced right through the cable, causing it to snap and whip back with an audible sound and then drop down.
"The forklift driver kept going -- he had not even noticed what happened.
"Without missing a beat, my co-worker walked off saying, 'I'll get a taller ladder.'"
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