Little Rubber Feet 小橡胶脚

作者: 保罗·塔维尼尔 日期: 1983年1月 人物: 杰里·马诺克、保罗·塔维尼尔、史蒂夫·乔布斯、马特·卡特 主题: 工业设计 概要: 关于苹果第一代Macintosh的开发以及制造它的人的轶事: 当工业设计与采购现实相遇时,我们发现没有一个细节是小到引起问题的…… , 小橡胶脚 Little Rubber Feet

In December 1982, I was chosen to buy parts for the Mac’s mechanics. I was also one of a few people who used to work on making Apple II computers who were allowed to move to the Mac team. This was special because Steve Jobs didn’t like most people who worked at Apple, and he usually hired new people instead.

1982 年 12 月,我被选中为 Mac 的机械师购买零件。我也是少数几个曾参与制造 Apple II 电脑并被允许调到 Mac 团队的人之一。这很特别,因为史蒂夫·乔布斯不喜欢大多数在苹果工作的人,他通常会雇佣新人。

At a meeting, we talked about the problem with the “little rubber feet” that were supposed to be on the bottom of the case. They weren’t sticking right, and we were also having trouble getting them from the supplier, Trend Plastics. I looked into this and found out that we had special tools to make these feet with a cutout of the Apple logo in them. Trend is usually a good supplier, but this part is a bit tricky for them. They were having trouble finding the correct sticky substance to attach the feet to the case. We paid around $8,000 for the special tools, and each foot cost a small amount, about $2.

在一次会议上,我们讨论了本应位于机箱底部的“小橡胶脚”的问题。它们粘得不正确,而且我们也很难从供应商 Trend Plastics 那里获得它们。我对此进行了调查,发现我们有特殊的工具来制作这些带有苹果标志的切口的脚。 Trend通常是一个很好的供应商,但这部分对他们来说有点棘手。他们很难找到正确的粘性物质来将脚固定在箱子上。我们为特殊工具支付了大约 8,000 美元,每只脚的成本很小,大约 2 美元。

At our meeting the next day, I suggested that the design might be too complicated and we should think again. I remembered that 3M had a standard part called a “bump-on” that comes in the right size, sticks well to the case, and can even be made to match Apple’s beige color if we want. It would only cost less than 2 cents.

在第二天的会议上,我建议设计可能太复杂,我们应该再考虑一下。我记得 3M 有一个名为“bump-on”的标准部件,尺寸合适,可以很好地粘在外壳上,如果我们愿意,甚至可以制作成与苹果的米色相匹配。它只花费不到2美分。

“What I really meant to say is that this part is perfect for a designer, we need to get rid of it.”

“我真正想说的是,这部分对于设计师来说是完美的,我们需要摆脱它。”

Jerry Manock, who was in charge of designing industrial things, was not happy at all. He didn’t even attend the meeting, but someone told on me to Jerry. (I would have said what I said even if Jerry was there, because it’s normal to speak your mind freely.) Jerry was also contacted by a person from 3M, because I had talked to them first to try to solve the problem of not having enough things.

负责设计工业产品的杰里·马诺克 (Jerry Manock) 一点也不高兴。他甚至没有参加会议,但有人向杰里告发了我。 (即使杰瑞在场,我也会说出我所说的话,因为自由说出自己的想法是很正常的。)
3M的人也联系了Jerry,因为我先跟他们谈过,想办法解决东西不够的问题。

Jerry was very upset. He took me into a meeting room and asked, “Who gave you permission to talk to 3M about this part?” He also said, “I don’t like what you said about me having a ‘wet dream’ either.”

杰瑞非常沮丧。他把我带进会议室,问道:“谁允许你和 3M 讨论这个部分的?”他还说:“我也不喜欢你说我‘梦遗’。”

I told him that my job was to fix the missing parts for the first testing, and that I didn’t need his or anyone else’s permission to talk to a supplier. If he had a problem, he could talk to Matt Carter, who was in charge of making things.

我告诉他,我的工作是修复第一次测试中缺失的部件,并且我不需要他或任何其他人的许可才能与供应商交谈。如果他有问题,他可以和负责制作东西的马特卡特交谈。

We stopped arguing and decided to get along with each other.

我们停止了争吵,决定和睦相处。

Trend made one more try to get the sticky material just right, but it didn’t work. Because it was too expensive, every Mac computer that came out of the factory in Fremont had four sticky pieces attached to the bottom.

Trend再次尝试让粘性材料恰到好处,但没有成功。由于价格太贵,每台从弗里蒙特工厂出厂的 Mac 电脑底部都贴有四块粘纸。
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