The Safety and Financial Aspects of Golf Launchpads

During my last work term at company WXY, we were testing electronic sports equipment in a regular office setting. The company I was working at manufactured golf launchpads, which would allow the user playing a golf game on a game counsel (ie. PS3, PC etc.) to simulate a golf swing. Traditionally, the user would input a golf swing by holding down a button for a specific period to indicate the strength of the swing, our simulator allows users to hit a real golf ball. Our golf launchpad included a golf ball that was tethered to the simulator, and as a result every time it was hit by a golf club it would only spin about the base. During my work-term, the simulator was updated and as a result had to pass strict quality control standards before mass manufacturing started. Testing of the simulator was done using real golf balls and real golf clubs facing a high-definition TV and a PlayStation 3 game console. The main hazard during testing was the possibility of the golf club slipping out the employee’s hand as they were swinging the club during testing. If this were to happen, the golf club could hit the entertainment equipment, shatter the windows or an employee. Although visualization of the exact testing environment can be difficult, one may better understand the risks by imagining swinging a golf club at speeds of 100 km/hr in a regular office room.

The stakeholders who had influence over whether or not the issue is dealt with were the quality control supervisor and the Chief Financial Officer (CFO). The quality control supervisor’s main concern is testing as many units as possible in the shortest possible time. As a result, the quality control supervisor would not accord with new procedures that would increase the amount of time r...

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...lity than professional engineers and as a result they do not get much say. From personal experience, I can say that co-op students are not given the same amount of respect as professional engineers because of their lack of experience, relative age, skill set etc. For example, during my last work term although I had good suggestions for improvements to the software we were releasing, suggestions that senior staff were proposing were given much higher priority. I believe this issue is quite common, and the reason it occurs is understandable. My only suggestion to employers is to keep an open mind about co-op students and evaluate their opinions without bias

Works Cited

The Code of Ethics of Professional Engineers Ontario. (n.d.). Professional Engineers Ontario: Welcome to PEO's website. Retrieved February 24, 2010, from http://www.peo.on.ca/Ethics/code_of_ethics.html