Scott, Roger

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 The Knowledge Bank at The Ohio State University Ohio State Engineer Title:  Otto W. Winter, '29 Creators:  Scott, Roger  Issue Date:  1940-12  Publisher:  Ohio State University, College of Engineering  Citation:  Ohio State Engineer, vol. 24, no. 2 (December, 1940), 10-11, 19.  URI:  http://hdl.handle.net/1811/35749  GRADS IN INDUSTRY:Otto W. Winter, '29By ROGER SCOTT, I.E. 3Many of us come to this Institution with the inten-tions oj using the knowledge gained here as a steppingstone to success; the desire to make something of our-selves, to become leaders in our communities, to gainfinancial independence and security, or to approach ourown individual interpretation of the word "success".Since we all wish to be successful engineers it zvas onlynatural for me to believe that the readers of this maga-zine would be interested in learning of a man who once,just as you and I are now doing, plodded these longcampus walks, climbed the steep stairs of old U. Hall,went out into the world, and within the short time ofeleven years has made himself successful. It is with thepurpose of acquainting you with this 0. S. U. Alumnus,that I have asked and received his generous co-opera-tion in supplying information vitally necessary for thiswriting.Otto W. Winter entered O. S. U. in the fall of 1925,graduating in 1929 in Industrial Engineering. Duringthe summer preceding his senior year he worked for theCincinnati Milling Company which later proved to behis initial employer.For his thesis he supervised a research project forthis company on the subject of "Milling Power Require-ments". This was a subject on which little was knownand was co-sponsored by the Engineering ExperimentStation. Several I. E. classmates assisted on this projectand it was continued the following year and supervisedfrom Cincinnati.Subsequently he entered a sales training course andwas sent to the newly opened Detroit Office. In Detroithis work consisted of sales engineering on milling andgrinding equipment particularly with reference to auto-motive manufacturing.In the latter part of 1932 he was selected by Cincin-nati to go to Russia for them and for the Heald Ma-chine Company of Worcester, Mass. Before going hespent several months at Heald in an intensified courseon internal grinding and precision boring machine ap-plication, construction, etc. Work in Russia for Cincin-nati and Heald consisted of sale promotion, creditnegotiating, and technical service to various planningcommissions.Concerning his work in Russia, Otto said, "In asense, I was loaned to the Soviet Government to helpthem in their own machine tool building program,which was sadly needing some experienced assistance.The Russians proved to be so slow in following up myrecommendations that I eventually handled three orfour plants at one time. In each plant I had a staffO. W. Winter — behind the deskof Russian engineers to follow through in detail therecommendations made. By working several plants Iavoided going completely crazy trying to overcome Rus-sian slowness".Eventually, because of the even worse situation ex-isting in their cutting tool industry, he got into cuttingtool work. Work in this respect also consisted of cor-recting faults and making improvements in cutting tooldesign and manufacture.One very bad handicap was the lack of definite stand-ards, as well as good design, of milling cutters. Con-sequently he undertook a night project to design acomplete line of solid and inserted tooth type millingcutters. On this project he had 30 draftsmen workingfor him. Speaking of his work in Russia, he stated,"These designs incorporated the best of American prac-tice, a lot of Cincinnati ideas and some of my own.The project was finished and adopted as the RussianNational Standard and as far as I know is still in usetoday".While there he did a lot of technical lecturing, byinterpreter, at various technical institutes and schools.In addition to this he also managed to find time to dosome rather extensive writing in Russian technical jour-nals, all of which was most appreciated by the Russianhosts.Mrs. Winter was with him during the year's contract,and jointly they made an interesting study of Russianpeople, their government, customs, art, etc. I wish toquote directly Mr. Winter's words regarding his ob-servations: "In Russia I learned some powerful lessonsin government and its relation to the individual. Somelessons and experiences that since and especially of latehave been most valuable. If a lot of people in this coun-try could but experience, as I did, the lethargy, bureau-cracy, inefficiency, and loss of incentive that is experi-enced when the state takes over what should be privatePage 10 THE OHIO STATE ENGINEERenterprise and initiative, we would stand a much betterchance of saving and preserving those institutions thathave and will continue to make America great. We areall so well fed and content that we have too much timeto speculate on various 'isms'. The best bleaching pro-cess for a parlor pink I can think of is to let him live nRussia for a while and get his nose rubbed in it. Eventhe dyed-in-the-wool Reds eventually lose color."There is no satisfactory substitute for individual re-ward and initiative. Perhaps a million years from nowmen will be content to work for the common good of so-ciety. Until then, however, it is individual incentiveand profit that motivates us and pulls us out of theclock puncher class."As we are risking in this country there exists inRussia and other totalitarian states, a political aristoc-racy, based on kow-towing, favor, fear and secret policethat is not only a long, long way from the anticipatedproletarian Utopia but is even worse than the bloodedaristocracy that revolution smashed."The chaotic bureaucracy and bungling of govern-ment control of everything coupled with the attendantlack of private and individual initiative and enterpriseis impossible to comprehend without having actuallyexperienced it. Famine, starvation, shortage of every-thing, even wood and oil, are only a part of the resultand price paid".After returning from Russia, he resumed work of asales engineering nature for the Cincinnati MillingMachine and Cincinnati Grinders, Inc. This work in-cluded layout of some complete motor production linesin collaboration with other machine tool builders.Several months later an unusual opportunity openedup at Whitman & Barnes, Inc. of Detroit. This com-pany engaged in the manufacture of drills primarilydesired to broaden out and include milling cutters,special tools, reamers, etc. His job then was to or-ganize a separate division for this purpose. As gen-eral manager of this division the work included design-ing a complete new line of solid and inserted tooth typemilling cutters, tooling them up, and putting them intoproduction and handling all sales promotion work inthis connection. A complete engineering and manu-facturing organization was hired and equipment se-lected, or built, and set up for operation. In otherwords they started from scratch and built a completecompany within a company. The only exception tothis was that the straight selling was handled with theexisting sales organization. After two years of prof-itable operation it was realized that drill salesmen werenot competent to handle the sales engineering problemsinvolved in special cutting tools. Under these circum-stances a separate sales organization was necessary. Inaddition to this, considerable additional equipment wasrequired. These factors coupled with a highly unethi-cal and cut-throat competitive situation that was devel-oping in the special tool business resulted in a decisionto get out of this business rather than do a half-wayjob and lose customer good-will.About this time an opportunity developed with theKent-Owens Machine Company of Toledo, Ohio. Thework here as industrial engineer was to establish aproduction control, tool control, and material controlsystem. These systems were installed and the plant wasre-arranged and put on an efficient basis within ayear's time before the present opportunity opened up.His job now, as previously mentioned, is factorymanager of the Columbus McKinnon Chain Corpora-tion and Chisholm-Moore Hoist Corporation of Tona-wanda, New York, in charge of all manufacturing, per-sonnel, production, maintenance, inspection, etc., andcollaborating on engineering matters. He said, "Wehave had a lot of fun the past three years revising andimproving the business. The work is not yet completebut a great deal of progress has been made. For thatmatter I will be surprised if the task is ever really com-pleted. The successful industrial engineer is alwaysstriving to 'find the one best way', quoting JohnYounger, head of Department of Industrial Engineer-ing, the Ohio State University. For that matter anyfirm as well as any executive or industrial engineer thatcomplacently thinks the best way has been found isdoomed to failure. Today the track is fast, competitionis tough and keen and no one can rest long on theiroars. Who wants to, anyhow—continual dis-satisfactionand striving for improvement, against standing still,content with things as they are, is the difference be-tween living and existing."Below are listed the requisites of a successful engi-neer as given to me by Otto Winter:1. Put the best effort into your job that you possiblycan. Never be satisfied with what you are doingor have done. There is always a better way, and inthe words of John Younger, "Find the one bestway".2. Never stop studying. You can never know toomuch about your profession. Your four years incollege are only prelims for the main bout later on.There is no real substitute for "knowing yourstuff".3. Make your job your hobby. Be intensely interestedin it. Love work.4. Never make an enemy. It can be avoided. Peoplemay be envious or jealous but they don't have tohate or dislike you; see to it that they don't.5. Don't crawl in a shell. Join and be active in pro-fessional societies. Do some writing for trade pa-pers and the like.6. Cultivate the art of diplomacy. Don't let youryouthful exuberance and ambitions run amuck. Re-member you've got to learn to get along with peoplein a competitive world.(Continued on Page 19)December, 1940 Page 11Otto W. Winter(Continued from Page 11)7. Keep smiling. Don't be a sourpuss. No one wantsto hear your troubles; listen to theirs and realizehow well off you really are.8. Be fair and honest. A reputation for fair dealingand honesty is a precious and delicate thing to becarefully guarded. Just a few slips and the resultscan be chaotic.9. Live and let live. Be human and don't throw stonesor try to pose as a saint. Let your actions do yourpreaching.10. Keep fit. Don't let yourself go. Remember "a soundmind in a sound body".11. Cultivate the ability to take stock of what you have.Know what the "have-nots" have not and you have.Learn to appreciate things normally taken forgranted.12. Be a real full-fledged American citizen. Take anactive part in community affairs. Don't gripe aibad government and politics if you yourself donothing to correct conditions."There are a lot of other requisites one could set upfor success. Much depends on what one considers suc-cess. Too often we attach the amassing of a lot ofmoney to the term success. I have tried to outline someof those requisites to success other than how to make alot of money."In connection with community activity he practiceswhat he preaches. At the present he is President of theRotary Club of the Tonawandas, First Vice-Presidentof the Business and Civic Association of the Tona-wandas (Senior Chamber of Commerce), State Chair-man of the Industrial Relations Committee of the NewYork State Junior Chamber of Commerce and a direc-tor of the Boys Club of the Tonawandas. He is, like-wise, active in professional society affairs (belongs cofour of them) and especially, the American Society ofTool Engineers, of which he is a past chairman of De-troit, Toledo and Buffalo Chapters, as well as a Na-tional director. His principal activity in this society isin the capacity of member of the National EducationalCommittee. In this connection he is very busy at thepresent on matters pertaining to the training of neededskilled labor for the National defense program.Mr. Winter has an intense interest in sports of anykind. He says, "I can still do 100 yards in 10 secondsand will take on any 11-year alumnus in any athleticcontest and give him odds." Well boys, the line formson the right, oh yes! I will be glad to hold the stakesas a matter of accommodation. But before you do any-thing rash, let's take a look at his record. While inschool he was president of the Varsity "O", member ofthe gym team and taught freshman gymnastics for threeyears. After graduation he taught the same in theY. M. C. A.'s of Detroit and Toledo, the Physical Cul-ture Institute of Moscos and in Tonawanda. If anyonestill wishes to accept the challenge, you may find himat the annual Industrial Engineers' picnic.December, 1940 Page 19

Otto W. Winter, '29

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Otto W. Winter, '29

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