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The following is an excerpt from the book Taming Dragons by Keith Childress
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November 2011
For you to understand how I went from being a successful, well-respected teacher and business man, to being locked in a store room waiting to be interrogated while the FBI looted our office, I have to explain a little bit about my background in automotive design field, and about the history of our family business. I'll try to be brief, but for those of you that know me, you know how difficult this will be. A Career in Law Enforcement When I graduated from Lutheran High School East in 1975 I really had no clue what I wanted to do with my life. I decided to pursue a career in law enforcement and applied for admittance into the Michigan State Police cadet program. While awaiting word about the cadet program, I attended classes at Macomb Community College and held a variety of jobs. I worked as an Assistant Manager at Chess King clothing store, and I sold gas-guzzling Class-A motor homes during the gas rationing days of Jimmy Carter's presidency. Not a great career choice. I worked on the assembly line at Chrysler's Lynch Rd. Assembly Plant, and Managed the wash rack at Gene Hamilton's Chevrolet dealership in Warren. I had had my own aluminum cleaning business for a while, and worked for my father as a welder/mechanic. My father owned a small company that installed dump bodies, dumping platforms, fifth wheels, hydraulic lift gates, utility bodies, etc., on bare "cab and chassis" trucks. The dump bodies, dumping platforms, etc. where designed to fit the vehicle, but nothing ever did. As such, we had to custom fit everything. This meant I had to design and manufacture of much of the mounting hardware myself. "You've Been Accepted, But..." After an extensive investigative process, including a thorough background check, psychological testing, etc., I was accepted into the Michigan State Police cadet program. Unfortunately, due to Michigan's slumping economy at the time, funding for the cadet program was cut and the program was put on hold before I could join. I also applied for and was accepted into the Warren Police cadet program. But again, budget cuts caused the program to be put on hold before I could join. Starting a family In 1978 I married my high school sweetheart Pamela Pearl Smith. In May 1981 our first son, Adam, was born. Our son Aaron came along in September 1982, followed by our son Todd in October 1984. Batavia and Philpot While I waited for the Michigan State Police and Warren Police cadet programs to start up again, I attended a night course called the Batavia School of Drafting. I found out about Batavia by accident through a chance encounter with Tom Korfel, an older brother of a guy I went to high school with named Ron Korfel. Batavia, as it was called, was a precursor to the more advanced Philpot School of Automotive Body Drafting. Batavia taught students how manual drafting was really done in the automotive industry, which was nothing like what we were taught in high school drafting. With the help of Tom and Ron Korfel, I did well in the Batavia course, finishing third in my 1981 graduating class. In the fall of 1981, I began the Philpot course. Philpot was founded by an Englishman named Harold Philpot in the 1950's. Mr. Philpot was a true "character", and is a legend in the automotive body drafting business. Philpot was a very difficult course and had an extremely high dropout rate, more than 50%. The school was so well respected that graduates were highly sought after and guaranteed jobs, even in the toughest of times. Finishing fifth in my Philpot graduating class still stands as one of my most prized accomplishments. It was 9-months of pure HELL, but worth every minute of it. Having Batavia and Philpot on my resume opened doors and created opportunities that wouldn't otherwise have existed. Unfortunately, declining enrollment, brought on by the use of computer aided design (CAD), forced these excellent manual drafting and design schools to close their doors for good several years ago. Sadly, only old-timers like me know these schools ever existed. My New Career After graduating from the Batavia course I landed my first job in the automotive design/engineering field. I was hired as a manual draftsman (Detailer) by a staffing firm called Technical Services Inc. (TSI). I was assigned to Fisher Body's Quarter Panel Group at the General Motors Tech Center in Warren Michigan. I was making $8.50/hour plus overtime. This was more money than I'd ever made before. I was offer 50 cents an hour more to work at Detroit Engineering, but turned it down so I could work at GM's Tech Center. I did this to please my mom who always seemed very impressed by the GM Tech center when we'd drive by it when I was a kid. I worked at the Tech Center for about a year before accepting a position for $14.00/hour as a Designer at American Sunroof in Allen Park Michigan. While at American Sunroof I worked on the design of stretch limousines and convertible top stacks. I returned to the GM Tech Center working for a staffing firm called Entech Engineering. I was assigned to the Electrical Group at Fisher Body where I was responsible for the design and packaging of Bose Speaker Systems. Within a few months I was promoted to Design Leader, responsible for the redesign of the Fiero speaker system. The original production design had the speakers mounted in the headrest. This didn't go over well with Fiero's customers and my job was to manage a group of designers charged with retrofitting the speaker into the sail panel. The high point of my time in the Electrical Group was introducing Velcro as a means of attaching removable plastic speaker covers to door trim panels. Prior to the use of Velcro, speaker covers were attached to the door trim panel through the use of complicated and expensive snap features designed into the speaker covers. Using Velcro allowed us to eliminate slides in the die which resulted in a significant cost savings. My original idea was to mold magnets into the plastic speaker covers, but the idea was rejected because "GM doesn't use magnets." 25 years later, Steve Jobs would use magnets to perform a similar function in Apple's state of the art Apple computers and iPad 2.
I left the Electrical Group when I accepted a position as a contract Designer at GM's subsidiary, Fisher Guide, in Anderson Indiana. I was responsible for the design of the headlamp for the 1989 Chevy W Car (Lumina). The design was one of the first headlamps in which the shape of the headlamp lens matched the contour of the vehicle. I designed the headlamp so that it mounted directly to the plastic cross-car beam, thus eliminating an expensive mounting bracket on each side of the vehicle. Eliminating the left/right mounting brackets resulted in a significant cost savings. I received my first patent for the mounting features incorporated into the design. (please click here to view the patent) Introduction to Seat Belt Design When I finished the headlamp design at Fisher Guide, my family and I moved back to Michigan and I accepted a (contract) position as a Senior Designer at GM's CPC division. In the mid-eighties, GM underwent a restructuring eliminating Fisher Body and creating two new divisions, CPC and BOC. CPC stood for Chevrolet, Pontiac, Canada, and BOC stood for Buick, Olds, Cadillac. I was assigned to the seatbelt group at CPC where I was responsible for the design of the door-mounted "passive" seat belt system in the Chevy W Car. In the mid-eighties, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) mandated a graduated phase-in of "passive restraints", with 100% compliance required by 1990. "Restraints" meaning seatbelts, and "passive" meaning the occupant did not have to physically "put on" the seatbelt. Instead, the occupant was automatically belted in when they entered the vehicle and closed the door. This was before mandatory seatbelt laws and airbags came into effect, and the intent of passive restraints was to increase seatbelt use and save lives. Can't Hold a Job? If it seems like I was moving around a lot, I was. But I wasn't a vagabond, I was a contactor, or "jobbie", as we were known in the automotive design field back then. I didn't actually work for the customer (Fisher Body, CPC, Fisher Guild, etc.), I worked for staffing firms known as job shops. The job shop placed me onsite at their customer's facility. A jobbie was similar to a "Kelly Girl", but instead of doing secretarial work, we did drafting and design. Job shops were notoriously cheap. The customer would pay the job shop an hourly rate for my services, and the job shop would pay me out of those funds. The less they paid me, the more money they pocketed for themselves. The most you could expect from a job shop was a $.50/hour raise after a year's service. However, if you left and went to work for another job shop, you could get a two- or three-dollar-an-hour raise. As such, all of us jobbies tended to move around a lot to get their hourly rate up. It's not that I was greedy, I had a budding family to support so I needed the money. Finding work was easy for me because I was a Philpot graduate and in high demand. I also moved around a lot because I wanted to diversify my design experience. If you stay on one job too long, you can get pigeon-holed into doing that one job. I worked with designers at Fisher Body that had designed the same type of car parts for 25 years. That would drive me crazy. By moving from job to job, I gained design experience in plastics, sheetmetal, lighting, restraints (seat belts), Bose speaker systems, convertibles, limos, electrical, etc. My diverse background would help me land the best job I ever had. Saturn Corporation In 1986, after I finished the seatbelt design for the Chevy W Car, Saturn recruited me to design the passive seatbelt systems for Saturn's first two production vehicles. GM's chairman Roger Smith had created Saturn to compete head-to-head with the Japanese imports. Saturn was a little over a year old at the time and operating out of small office building on Kirtz Blvd in Troy, Michigan. Saturn chose a "power-passive" seatbelt design for its first two vehicles. When the occupant opened the front door, the seatbelt would automatically glide forward along a track hidden beneath the plastic trim above the door. When the occupant got in and closed the door, the belt would automatically glide back along the track to its resting place in the B-pillar, perfectly positioning the seatbelt across the occupant's chest. When I started at Saturn I was brought in as a Senior Designer through a staffing firm called Bartech. Within six months, Saturn offered me a direct position as "Lead Designer" of the power-passive seat belt system. As the Lead Designer I was responsible for anything and everything to do with the design of the power-passive belt system. Wearing Many Different Hats Saturn was severely understaffed in those days and had the philosophy that if you saw something that needed doing, and thought you could do it, then do it. I took this to heart. I was young and ambitious and took on more and more responsibility as time went on. I ended up wearing many different hats while employed at Saturn. In addition to my responsibilities for the design of the power-passive seatbelt system, I also helped out with the design of the rear seatbelt system. I worked with Tom Corbett and Michele Smith in the design of a unique dropping seatbelt latch and a cable mounted seatbelt buckle. We were awarded patents for both designs. To view the patents, please click here. The engineer I worked with on the power-passive seatbelt system had a background in vehicle testing, but lacked product engineering experience. As such, I took on many of his product engineering responsibilities. Our power-passive belt system interfaced with several parts of the vehicle. As such, I became a member of the interior trim, seats, structures, and underbody Product Development Teams (PDT). By the fall of 1988, the design of the restraint system was nearly complete so I took on the added responsibility of Prototype Build Coordinator at our 12 Mile Road Prototype Build Facility. I was responsible for seatbelts, instrument panel, mirrors, and external ornamentation. My responsibilities included making sure prototype parts were being delivered to the build facility on time; documenting build problems and communicating this information back to engineering; and working with the General Assembly department to develop the assembly line build sequence. Saturn garnered a lot of media attention and expectations were very high for the Saturn vehicle, which only added to the already tremendous pressure everyone was under. Roger Smith had promised a 1990 launch and in order for Saturn to meet this goal, the design had to be complete nearly a year earlier to allow time for tooling. Because of the compressed timing, everyone was behind and had to work darn near around the clock to meet our deadlines. Even when my father passed away suddenly in October 1988, I managed the build activities from the funeral director's office telephone because there was no one available to cover for me, and under no circumstance could we stop the build. Peer Recognition Saturn had a unique employee appraisal system. Instead of an employee being appraised by their immediate supervisor, Saturn employees were appraised by an "Employee Appraisal Team." The appraisal team consisted of Saturn team members that the employee had interacted with the most during the previous 12 month period. Each Saturn employee was appraised based on their individual roles and responsibilities, as well as their general responsibilities as a Saturn team member. The Employee Appraisal Team would meet to appraise the employee's performance and would not conclude until consensus was reached. The Saturn appraisal system eliminated politics and favoritism from the appraisal process. Instead, appraisals were based solely on merit. Saturn inspired me to do some of the best work of my career and as a result I was proud to receive the highest appraisals a Saturn employee could earn. We Did It !!!! Despite the all the obstacles and impossible timing, Saturn achieved its goals and Roger Smith drove the first production Saturn vehicle off the Spring Hill Tennessee assembly line in July 1990. The first Saturn vehicles earned many awards including Popular Mechanics "Design and Engineering" award, and Motor Week's "Driver's Choice Award" for best small car. What Saturn accomplished really was incredible and I was very proud to be part of it. The sense of camaraderie and pulling together to achieve a common goal was very gratifying. My time at Saturn was truly the best experience I had working in the automotive design and engineering profession. CATIA When I started at Saturn in 1986 I was a manual draftsman, which meant I did all of my design work on the drafting board. I'd been exposed to Computer Aided Design (CAD) at GM, but was never trained to use it. One of Saturn's goals was to have 100% of the vehicle designed using CAD/CAM software. I was chosen to be part of a small source selection committee that would help determine which CAD/CAM software package Saturn would choose. There was a strong push for Saturn to use CGS, the CAD software developed by GM and used throughout the rest of the company. However, after comparing several CAD/CAM software packages, including CGS, our committee determined that a program called CATIA was the superior CAD/CAM software package. Despite the pressure to choose CGS, our committee was able to convince Saturn's management to go with CATIA. CATIA is an acronym that stands for Computer Aided Three-dimensional Interactive Application. CATIA is owned by a French company named Dassault Systemes. Dassault Systemes was created in 1981 as a spinoff of Dassault Aviation. Shortly after its inception, Dassault Systems formed a 50-50 partnership with IBM in the sale, marketing and development of the CATIA software. Dassault has been responsible for the development of the CATIA software, while IBM has been responsible for worldwide sales, marketing, distribution, and licensing. IBM accomplishes this with the help of a large network independent companies it calls "Business Partners." IBM is directly responsible for large accounts, such as Saturn, while its business partners are responsible for the sale, marketing and licensing of the CATIA software to small and medium sized businesses. When Saturn chose CATIA as its CAD/CAM software, Chrysler was the only other automotive company using CATIA in the metro Detroit area. So landing the Saturn account was a feather in the cap for both IBM and Dassault Systemes. It also helped pave the way for other companies to eventually switch to CATIA, such as Toyota, Ford, and Hyundai, to name a few. As we would come to find out, CATIA would also play an integral role in the FBI raid of our training facility nearly 20 years later. Teaching Old Dogs New Tricks I was in the first group of six designers to be trained to use CATIA at Saturn. It was a very difficult transition going from a 2D drafting board to a 3D CAD system, while maintaining our timing objectives. As the six of us became more comfortable using the CATIA software, we began acting as mentors to the designers that were trained after us. Our supplier/partner, American Safety, purchased the CATIA software, but none of their designers had been trained to use it. We were on a tight schedule and couldn't wait for them to be trained, so I brought them over to Saturn and trained them myself. I found I had a knack for it and really enjoyed teaching. Alcoholism and Recovery To help cope with the tremendous stress and strain I was under at Saturn, and to help take my mind off of work, I began to drink more. I'd always been a drinker by my drinking escalated during my time at Saturn. I feared my drinking was getting out of control and clouding my judgment, so after putting the finishing touches on the design of the Saturn seatbelt system, I checked myself into the Maple Grove Treatment Center for the treatment of alcohol dependency. That was in December 1989 and I have been sober for more than 20 years now. When I checked myself into the treatment center it took everyone by surprise. Outside of my wife and kids, no one knew I had a drinking problem. Like many alcoholics and I had a very strong tolerance for alcohol and rarely appeared intoxicated. I didn't drink everyday nor did I drink during working hours. I was a very functional alcoholic, earning outstanding appraisals for my work on the Saturn seatbelt system during the time in which I was consuming the most alcohol. I put on a good front, but I knew deep down that I had developed a serious dependency on alcohol and that I needed help. After I quit drinking, my cigarette smoking nearly doubled. I got to where I was smoking two and a half to three packs of cigarettes a day. My kids were very worried about my health so I promised I would quit smoking when I turned 40. I kept my promise and put out my last cigarette on my 40th birthday, May 3rd 1997. After I quit smoking my weight ballooned to 312 lbs. I had a physical and was told my cholesterol was off the charts and I had borderline high blood pressure. I put myself on a diet and began exercising daily. Thanks to diet and exercise I lost nearly 100lbs. and my cholesterol and blood pressure dropped within normal range. It is not my intent to downplay the roll addiction played in my life or to minimize the struggle I went through to overcome my addictions. There is no doubt in my mind that I would not be alive today had I not changed my behavior. Getting into recovery completely transformed my personal and professional life. However, the purpose of this section of the book is to provide background for the FBI raid. As such, I have intentionally kept each section short. I will be chronicling my battle with addiction and my recovery in another section of the book. Moving On After the design of the first two Saturn vehicles was complete I decided to leave Saturn. Working at Saturn was like running a marathon at a sprinters pace. It was a great experience and as a team we accomplished the impossible. But I'm a challenge driven person and once the Saturn challenge was met, I needed something new to motivate me. The new challenge came from a contract house that offered me a Design Leader position at Freightliner Truck in Charlotte North Carolina. They told me that they were in danger of losing their contract with Freightliner if they didn't send someone in right away to straighten out the mess the previous design leader had created. I accepted the position and moved to Charlotte. It didn't take long for me to get things straightened out and restore good relations with Freightliner. While at Freightliner I provide CATIA training to several of Freightliner designers and engineers, which turned out to be the most fulfilling aspect of my job. When my mom was diagnosed with cancer I left Freightliner and came home to be with my family. When I got back to Michigan I took a job as a Senior Designer at United Technologies. I was UT's first CATIA user. While my primary responsibility was to design an instrument panel for Jeep Truck, I also provided CATIA training to UT's designers and engineers that had been using Ford's CAD program named PDGS. After I finished the instrument panel at UT, I accepted a position as Senior Designer/Project Engineer at a British-based company named Motor Panels, in Farmington Hills Michigan. My primary responsibility was that of Project Engineer on the Plymouth Prowler program. However, I also provided CATIA training to other Motor Panels designers and engineers. I also did a short stint as Engineering Manager for a company called Jacobs Industries. However, as time went on, I found that I enjoyed providing CATIA training more than design and engineering work and decided it was time for a career change. Batavia CATIA I'd gotten into the drafting and design business by accident and it literally changed my life. Brothers Tom & Ron Korfel told me about the Batavia course and provided support when I took the class. If it weren't for them I may have never found out about Batavia or done as well as I did. If it weren't for Mr. Zink, my Batavia instructor, I may not have stuck it out in Batavia or developed my passion for teaching. These people had a profound impact on my life and I wanted to be able to do the same for others. In the mid nineties, CATIA training was very scarce. The only training available was through private training companies, which was very expensive and beyond the financial means of most people trying to break into the business. I had an idea to develop an affordable CATIA course based on my design experience using the CATIA software, and based on the principals I'd learned in Batavia and Philpot. I contacted the Batavia and Philpot Schools with my idea. This led to a meeting with Dan Zink Jr., son of my Batavia instructor. Dan and I hit it off immediately and we decided to form a partnership teaching CATIA. We agreed that Dan would run the business and I would develop and teach the CATIA course. We called our training, Batavia CATIA. I taught the Batavia CATIA course two evenings a week and supplemented my income by doing part-time design work for Jacob Industries (the company I had previously worked for as Engineering Manager). The Batavia/Philpot Schools had done so much for my career and my life that it was an honor to be a part of the Batavia/Philpot family. I taught the Batavia CATIA course for a couple of years and really enjoyed it. Then Jacobs lost their Chrysler account and I lost my part-time design job. With no way to supplement my income, I either had to go back to design full time, or pursue CATIA training on a full time basis. I chose the latter and reluctantly parted company with the Batavia/Philpot Schools to started my own CATIA training business. Keith Childress can be reached at 586 693 2585 or keith@keithchildress.com |
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