Re: Where were you 20 years ago?
I worked on the development of a heavy current switch for use in industrial plating works, Chlorine manufacturing plants, etc. We produced a Mark 1 version, which we supplied to several chemical plants and a plating works, and a smaller, Mark 2, which went to a chemical plant. I then moved on to a different type of switchgear (vacuum bottles), and forgot all about the Mk1 and Mk2, and development stopped on that project. Five years later, one of the original customers asked if I could go to their plant (in Germany) to oversee the relocation of their original set of 12 switches (12 x 25kA @6v), but the management told them that as we were no longer in Heavy Current Switchgear, I would not be going over. They scrapped the perfectly functional switches and installed older design mechanical switches instead. Management had thrown away a perfectly lucrative line of business because it was not electronic, despite the whole history of our company had been in the manufacture of Big Thick and Heavy kit.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
