"Ah, this is fun," Alex said. "I know I'm never gonna need to know this, but this is really fun. I could play with it for an hour or two."
"And this is how you move the unit itself, not just the arm." Bob said, taking the robot from the car and setting it down on the asphalt, showing her how it would turn, advance, reverse, and spin in place. "If the surface is good and allows it, this robot can do fifteen miles per hour."
"Quite versatile," Louie said.
"Oh, yeah, it is, and it's not from the disposable generation anymore, you know," Bob said. He was passionate about all things to do with robots and artificial intelligence in general. His kind eyes filled with sparks as he walked his audience through feature after feature.
"How do you mean, disposable?" Alex asked. "These things must cost a fortune."
"Yes, they do," Bob continued, "that's precisely why now they're equipped to detonate a bomb from a safe distance, by activating this laser, here," he pointed first at the robot's laser source, and then at the laser activation command button on the remote. "Before they had lasers the robots ended up destroyed while detonating bombs they couldn't dismantle, because of their close proximity. They had to detonate the bomb mechanically, which required the little guys to be right there, near the bomb, and get blown to bits in the process. If dismantling fails and the remote operator decides detonation is the best course of action, this laser technology allows the operator to detonate remotely."
"OK, you guys, thanks for the crash course in bomb-dismantling robot operations, but I gotta go. I am going to be seriously late for my plant visit. I'll take that," Alex said, reaching for the remote. She took it, flipped it closed, and put it in her inside jacket pocket. Minutes later, she was speeding toward the NanoLance plant.
Somewhere in the dense traffic, a few cars behind her, a gray Ford sedan was catching up.
…68
"Another challenging week for NanoLance Incorporated has started with an unfavorable consumer review report, issued yesterday by our colleagues from Ted's Consumer Central. The findings are putting NanoLance's global quality under a big question mark, signaling notable drops in product quality in the consumer branch of the business. These findings have generated yet another knee-jerk reaction from shareholders, who have dumped relatively high volumes of shares at declining prices. NNLC gave 6.24 percent on NASDAQ today, bringing the stock price at an unprecedented $75.78 per share. Probably the decline will continue, if the negative media attention doesn't fade and the company's reputation is not restored.
"From Money Markets Morning Review, this is Vincent Moran, wishing you a fortunate day."
…69
"Umm… late, as usual," Alex grunted, looking at the time while she was parking in one of the plant's visitor parking spots. She should have been there by 11:30AM, no later.
In the lobby, John Dunwood, vice president of manufacturing, was waiting for her, casually chatting with the receptionist.
"I'm so sorry I'm late," Alex said, as soon as she stepped through the door.
"No problem, I just arrived," Dunwood replied, shaking her hand. "We are scheduled for a quick introduction about plant operations, then the tour, per se, and then we'll have a picnic."
"A picnic? Here?" She was surprised. This was not the usual business lunch invitation.
"Yes, exactly. You haven't seen the plant until you've seen our testing airfield and our drones flying. What better place to have lunch? Don't worry," he continued, looking at her stilettos, "we have pavement and picnic tables. We eat out there a lot."
He led her to his office, a modestly decorated, functional room.
"It's rare that we have an IT leader visit. This almost never happens. Or happened, I should say. I've seen the memo that Dr. Barnaby put out regarding the plant tours for all newly hired leaders, and I think it's a great idea. Even if it takes a little bit of time from our days, the value in having all new leaders exposed to the products, both military and civilian, is priceless. Coffee? Water?"
"No, thank you, I'm good."
"Let's proceed, then. The plant is organized into three main sections. There's one section dedicated to building and assembling the electronic components that we install in all products, such as circuit boards, command modules, and so on. That's a static-free, dust-free environment, and we have two options to visit it. We can either see it through the glass walls, or, if you'd like to see more detail, we'll have to dress you up in anti-static work wear."
"Through the glass walls would do it, I think," Alex said.
"A second section of the plant manufactures the bodies of all the UAVs. Few components that participate in the full assembly of a UAV are built elsewhere. We're vertically integrated almost to perfection, and this helps greatly with quality control." He frowned. "I am sure you remember quality hasn't been our greatest achievement lately."
Alex nodded, sympathetically.
"Most drone bodies are made of composite materials. There's no foundry here," he clarified with a smile. "There are numerous advantages to composites. They're lightweight, non-corrosive, high-strength, re-enforceable, and flexible. Therefore, all UAV body components are shaped here, on site, from carefully designed formulations of composite materials and reinforcing fibers. We buy the wheels and tires from a parts vendor, you know. But mostly everything else is built here."
Dunwood spoke with great pride about the plant's capabilities. Watching him while he was speaking about all the components built at the plant, Alex thought of a different reason why Dunwood would still be around, continuing to endure Walker's repeated abuse. Maybe he wasn't a hostage in his job, after all. Maybe he just loved what he did with such passion, he couldn't think of living without it.
"The third section of the plant," he continued, "is also the most exciting to see. It's the drone assembly line. Many visitors are surprised that we even have an assembly line for drones. After all, how many are we making? The answer is quite a few. And we're constantly growing our output numbers. Unmanned flight is the future of combat aviation, with great potential to encompass significant pieces of the air-cargo market and numerous other civilian applications. Removing life support and the crew's physical space requirements from a plane, plus the cost of the actual flight crew is a significant cost advantage.
"This translates into a full-blown assembly line, capable of delivering a few hundred units per year. This is the section we're going to be visiting last, to give you all the time you'd like to look around and ask questions. Your clearance level is high enough for your badge to access all doors in the plant, except the static-free areas, for which you need a special clearance. Please feel free to move around as you wish."
"Wow, thank you," Alex said. For some reason she hadn't thought that the plant would be so complex and large.
"And, of course, there's R&D. Our research department makes us proud. They are forward thinking and creative. They come up with ideas, which have secured, over time, this company's leading role on the market. For example, R&D is playing with the idea of designing guidance-and-control software that could be deployed in a matrix, on multiple identical drones, to test—"