Small improvements can add up to a significant gain
Chris Hoy, Victoria Pendleton, Emma Trott and the rest of the team became national heroes.
One of the possible reasons for their success, which caused the French to believe the team was equipped with ‘magic wheels’, is attributed to Matt Parker, appointed ‘Head of Marginal Gains’ by the main coach, Dave Brailsford.
It was Brailsford who coined the phrase “aggregation of marginal gains” — making numerous small improvements which add up to a significant gain in performance.
So he introduced sticky tyres, spraying alcohol on them to remove all dirt and increase adhesion, and wind tunnel work to reduce riders’ resistance.
Matt’s job was to anticipate risk and maximise effectiveness. His solutions were sometimes very simple — reducing the possibility of picking up an infection by telling the team to avoid the courtesy bus and wash their hands regularly.
Making the most of the ‘golden hour’ between semi-final and final, rather than have athletes hanging around, and keeping muscles warm with his now famous heated hot pants and other methods, all had the desired aggregate effect.
Getting small things right
Marginal improvements in farming is precisely what my Practical Farm Ideas is all about — and handling wrapped silage is the topic which exercises me this week.
Damage the wrap on silage bales and poor feed quality is the result.
In the spring of 2008, I showed the picture, above, to a progressive contractor, and was amazed how he instantly recognised the benefits of this design over that of the machines he was using.
The difference is having the outer gripper static and one at the loader end the one which grips the bale. Adding a roller to the outer one means it will roll when touching adjoining bales, rather than rely on the slip of the plastic.
The inside gripper allows a full release when the bale is in position, rather than gingerly opening the grip just enough to allow the bale to stay in position.
The result is the kind of marginal improvement which would benefit any of the tens of thousands of farmers in Ireland who in the next six months will be handling hundreds of thousands of bales of wrapped silage.
The reduction in damage will cut the stacking damage, and also increase work rate — both enough to put the job on the podium of efficiency.
David Renton made the machine using heavy wall four inch box section, and the roller was the top end of a round steel gate post.
He added reinforcing gussets at each joint, as he was aware, from reading of other bale squeezes, that the bending forces on the machine are considerable.
Once the beam is bent, the geometry is changed.
When building the stack, David drops sachets of rat poison in the middle, and the bales go on hard core, not concrete, which can allow rainwater to pool.
Other readers of Practical Farm Ideas tell me they build their stack on scrap car tyres — enough to keep the bales off the floor and a means of allowing the rainwater to drain away.
*If you know of an interesting farming innovation which we can pass on to readers, please get in touch through the editor (021-4802365 or farm.ed@examiner.ie).
