Meat+Poultry - February 2023 - 78

FROM THE CORRAL
Thinking spectrum
In my last column, I wrote about the
problems associated with finding new
talented people to invent, maintain
and repair equipment. Some of the
best future equipment people may be
either dyslexic, autistic, or ADHD.
Unfortunately, the kids who should be
growing up and getting jobs in your
plant are playing video games because
they never got introduced to using
tools when they were young.
I also referenced the specific
talents of the different types of
thinkers, such as object visualizers
who are good at mechanics, visual
spatial mathematical thinkers and
verbal thinkers who think in words.
There are scientific studies that show
that different types of thinking really
exist. Maria Kozhevnikov, who is
now at the University of Singapore,
conducted one of the first studies that
showed that there are two types of
visualizers. She wrote a paper based
on that research titled " Revising the
Visualizer Verbal Dimension: Evidence
for Two Types of Visualizers. " The
person who is likely to be one of your
best mechanics may think in photo
realistic pictures and can see how a
mechanical device works. I personally
worked with many designers and
inventors of equipment who were poor
in algebra because it is too abstract to
visualize with photo realistic pictures.
The visual spatial thinker thinks in
patterns instead of pictures. They
often excel in higher mathematics
and computer programming. This
person will be brilliant in doing all the
mathematical parts of engineering such
as specifications for the refrigeration
system. A mathematical engineer will
not be the person who will design a
better hide puller.
Many people may be mixtures
of different ways of visualizing.
Kozhevnikov discovered that at the
extreme end of the visualization
spectrum, the same person will not be
an expert in both types of visualization.
The young object visualizer who could
become your next highly skilled person
to keep your plant running, may be
in special education because they are
terrible at higher math. Both types of
visualizers pay attention to detail. They
are mostly bottom-up thinkers, and
they can instantly relate how a problem
that is occurring now may be similar
to a problem that occurred in the past.
The verbal thinkers use a top-down
approach. They have a broad concept
that lacks detail of how to implement
it. One study showed that highly verbal
thinkers are not good at planning how
they are going to do a project. They
simply have a broad concept of how
it should work, instead of how it will
actually work.
What can plant managers do to
help develop the next generation of
people who can both fix and invent
specialized equipment? The students
in your local school need to be
taking classes in shop and welding to
become interested. Early exposure to
career-related skills is a major road to
a career. This applies to all types of
jobs. For example, Stephen Spielberg,
the famous movie director of Jaws and
other mega-hit movies, made his first
movie at age 12. To replicate a train
wreck in a movie, he filmed crashing
toy trains.
Some educators now realize that
schools should put shop classes back
in the curriculum. A major problem
now is finding teachers who can
teach it. Teachers are needed for both
elementary school and high school
shop classes. A possible source of shop
teachers is retired maintenance people.
You could help the local schools get
connected with them. Many retirees
are bored, and they may love getting
students interested and motivated.
One approach is getting them involved
in robotics classes and introducing
programmable logic controllers
(PLCs) and other equipment. To force
the students to get really creative,
they should make their robots out of
materials that they can buy at Home
Depot. Being able to improvise is a
place where the object visualizers
really shine.
TEMPLE GRANDIN | meatpoult r y@sos land.com
" Teachers are needed for both elementary
school and high school shop classes. A
possible source of shop teachers is retired
maintenance people. "
78 MEAT+POULTRY | 02.23 | www.meatpoultry.com
Rosalie Winard
http://www.meatpoultry.com
Meat+Poultry - February 2023

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