Solutions From The Ground Up

I was always fascinated with machines and loved to build stuff as a kid. Most of this I believe came from my father. He always made sure I had the things I needed for whatever my interests happened to be at the time. Whether it be photography, go-carts, mini-bikes, boats, or electronics - he made sure I had access to them, but in a very different and beautiful way. When I wanted a go-cart, I was gifted a trash can filled with a disassembled Vespa Scooter motor, a pile of rusty steel tubing, and an old stick welder. “What’s this stuff,” I asked, and he said, “That’s anything you want it to be, but I’ll bet there’s a go-cart in there if you look hard enough.”

A few weeks later I needed front spindles for the steering. My dad brought me an old, rusty, frozen up metal lathe and some bar stock. Again, I asked what this stuff was for, and he said, “Once you take that lathe apart and fix it up you can make your spindles.” I asked, “How do I do that?” He said, “That bar stock is anything you want it to be, and with that lathe you’ll be able to remove everything that isn’t a go-cart spindle.” In true Gen X fashion, one summer I learned how to rebuild an engine, how to weld, how to refurbish and use a metal lathe, lots of first aid, and all the other countless gifts of knowledge that came from NOT being given a shiny new go

cart.

The same thing played out the next summer when I wanted a boat to go out fishing in Redondo Harbor. My friends and I would ride our bikes down to the marina and fish off the breakwater, which typically turned out to be watching all the people that had small boats catching all the fish. I mentioned this to my dad and asked if I could get an inflatable rowboat from the sporting goods store to solve my problem. The very next week my dad had me come outside to the backyard and there it was, a classic wooden runabout perched on a rusty trailer with one flat tire. Behind, was a familiar looking trash can that contained an old, disassembled Evinrude outboard motor. The hull had visible gaps in the planks and a baseball sized hole in the bow. The entire thing reeked of mildew and stale gasoline and affixed to the windshield was a sign that read “Free, just need it GONE.” I was in heaven! It was perfect in every way and after the previous go-cart summer, I knew I could figure out how to bring her back to life.

By the end of summer, I was fishing in Redondo harbor with a new volume added to my toolset which included wooden boat repair, repacking wheel bearings, outboard motor repair, electrical wiring, painting, varnishing, upholstery, more first aid, and countless other skills. The most important thing gained through all of this was the mindset that if you are interested enough, and focus on a goal, you can do anything. Whatever my interest was, my dad wanted to make sure I understood how it worked starting from the most basic and fundamental mechanics. Fundamentals that I carry with me today along with my core belief that ALL problems can be solved with a solid and grounded understanding of the basics.

Tech companies today always promote and leverage state of the art capabilities for design, manufacturing, and problem solving. It’s easy to get caught up in the latest and greatest - as design tools today are indeed impressive and powerful. So impressive and powerful that we’re being led away from basic understandings and the fundamental building blocks of how things work. Design and manufacturing processes are controlled by software constructs. Tool selections come from catalogues and manufacturer databases. Equipment repairs are merely part swaps since this doesn’t require skilled technicians and as time goes by, we let our basic knowledge slip away.

Phrases like “you don’t need to know how it works, just replace it” make my skin crawl. We desperately need to know HOW things work and not be afraid to revisit the basics. This is where the solutions live, and if you can’t find the answer, look smaller. All the cool, fancy, high tech things we have are built on a foundation of basic principles. Inverse of that, all the environmental and energy issues we face today can be deconstructed into the same fundamental basics… again, this is where the solutions live.

The realization of how important the gift of receiving a big pile of crap in a trashcan came too late, and I never was able to thank my dad for making me take the long road. Instead, my thanks to him will come in the form of teaching my little boy, my family, and our employees in the same fashion by passing on the priceless value of the basics.

-Andy Coppock, CEO/CTO