The Makino visit was really interesting because we could see the machines being manufactured and tested right in front of our eyes, and even seeing one of the workers working on the parallelity (?) of 2 bars. The precision required is really astonishing since there is to be no deviation more than 5 microns (0.005mm) in any part of the machine. In fact, most of what we saw at the Makino factory were testing the machines for precision and ensuring that everything went smoothly, rather than the manufacturing of the machine itself (though we also saw that but to a lesser extent).
What was also very interesting was the statistics of the employees at Makino. Interestingly, the ratio of <30, 30 to 40, 40 to 50 and >50 was approximately 1:1:1:1, a much more equal divide than what I would have expected. Most of the Makino employees that we saw working were actually nearing their 50's or even going beyond that, which was unexpected since I had expected much more people in their 30's or 40's. Moreover, 49.9% of the employees were Singaporeans, while around 22% were PR's, which of course contradicted all the complains you hear about Singaporeans lacking jobs on the Internet.
But seriously, precision engineering is really amazing when one thinks about all the computing and measurements that are required to make the almost perfect machine. Moreover, it is extremely important since practically everything we use has some link to precision engineering, where the products are made by the machines which are developed via precision engineering. Even products which are not made by these machines still have to be made by other machines or tools, which in turn are being produced by the machines made in precision engineering (e.g. carpentry). Sadly, we have not learnt much in school about precision engineering, except for the factors which may affect the accuracy of the machines.
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