There are so many impressive things to talk about after a visit to the BMW assembly plant in Spartanburg, S.C., one does not quite know how to highlight just a couple. I’ll try.
When the body of a car goes to the paint chamber it has doors on it. After the painting the car moves along the assembly line and a robot removes the doors so work on the interior can be done. Much later along the line these doors will be mated to the exact auto body they came from by another robot.
A different robot installs the sun roof, when one is called for, and 37 screws are tightened simultaneously by this robot. I’ve never had a screwdriver that would do 37 screws simultaneously.
This visit to the BMW facility was part of the weekend at the Carolina’s-Georgia CIRA (Central Intelligence Retirees Association) Chapter. I am an honorary member of the chapter, and certainly appreciate the status.
We had walking tours of Spartanburg and it was enlightening to learn of the efforts in dressing up the city, making it attractive to young people and families. Music in Morgan Park was highlighted on Thursday and Friday nights. Families sat on the grass, children ran around barefooted, and on Friday night an African-American woman carrying a cane danced her feet off to the music. She was inspiring. Also amazing were the number of red-headed children. Is it the water in that part of the state?
We had a speaker at the Saturday night dinner from the CIA Publications Review Board. Former employees and contractors, in fact anyone who ever signed the secrecy oath at the Agency has to submit proposed publications for review prior to being sent to any publisher. She also said surviving family members are requested to submit obituaries of deceased CIA personnel to insure no classified information is being revealed.
The speaker told us there is a 12-18 months backlog of work for the PRB to review; she candidly admitted later that not everyone proposing to write is a great writer. Non-fiction authors doing their life story probably do better than aspiring fiction writers. John le Carre, Philip Kerr and Alan Furst can rest easy
It was a good time to meet and greet old friends, catch up on family affairs and just enjoy good fellowship. Am looking forward to the 2017 reunion to be held somewhere in North Carolina.
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