弗利克斯伯勒：从地图上消失的工厂

这是iHeart播客。

This is an iHeart podcast.

保证是人类。

Guaranteed human.

经营企业却从未考虑过播客？

Run a business and not thinking about podcasting?

再想想吧。

Think again.

收听播客的美国人比通过Spotify和Pandora收听广告支持流媒体音乐的人数更多。

More Americans listen to podcasts than ad supported streaming music from Spotify and Pandora.

作为头号播客平台，iHeart的规模是第二名和第三名总和的两倍。

And as the number one podcaster, iHeart's twice as large as the next two combined.

了解播客如何助力您的业务。

Learn how podcasting can help your business.

致电844844

Call 844844

你应该告诉大家我们是谁，以及我们的新节目是什么。

You should tell the people who we are and what our new show is.

我是罗伯特·史密斯，

I'm Robert Smith,

这位是雅各布·戈德斯坦。

and this is Jacob Goldstein.

我们曾经主持过一档名为《金钱星球》的节目。

And we used to host a show called Planet Money.

现在我们回归制作这档新播客，讲述历史上最伟大的创意、人物和企业。

And now we're back making this new podcast about the best ideas and people and businesses in history.

也包括一些最糟糕的人物，

And Some of the worst people,

可怕的创意，以及商业史上最具破坏性的公司。

horrible ideas, and destructive companies in the history of business.

我们苦思冥想终于决定将其命名为《商业历史》。

We struggled to come up with a name, decided to call it Business History.

知道为什么吗？

You know why?

为什么？

Why?

因为这是一档关于商业历史的节目。

Because it's a show about the history of business.

在您获取播客的所有平台均可收听。

Available everywhere you get your podcasts.

普希金。

Pushkin.

在您即将收听的这期节目中，我提到了新播客《商业历史》，我想您可能想多了解一些。

In the episode you're about to hear, I mentioned the new podcast Business History, and I thought you might want to hear a bit more about it.

《商业历史》由两位播客界传奇人物——罗伯特·史密斯和雅各布·戈德斯坦主持。

Business History is hosted by two podcasting legends, Robert Smith and Jacob Goldstein.

罗伯特和雅各布将讲述著名企业与标志性产品背后的故事，记录金融繁荣与泡沫破裂的历史轨迹。

Robert and Jacob tell the stories behind famous companies and iconic products and chart financial booms and bursting bubbles.

正如好莱坞常说的那样，这档新节目出自警示故事的制作人之手。

And as they say in Hollywood, this new show comes from the producers of cautionary tales.

在任意播客平台收听《商业历史》，或在YouTube搜索商业历史播客观看视频版。

Listen to business history wherever you get your podcasts, or search business history podcast on YouTube to see it in video form.

英格兰东海岸的林肯郡。

Lincolnshire on the East Coast Of England.

这里人烟稀少，大部分是乡村地区，历史上鲜有重大事件在此发生。

Sparsely populated and largely rural, few great moments of history have been made here.

大型城镇同样寥寥无几。

Large towns are also few.

当地居民多居住在小村庄里，从事马铃薯种植和生猪养殖等田园牧歌式的农事活动。

The people tend to live in small villages engaged in such bucolic activities as potato farming and pig husbandry.

很难相信林肯郡会出现在任何人的关注范围内。

It seems hard to believe that Lincolnshire is on anyone's radar.

不过这个郡确实以某种特色闻名——地势平坦。

The county is famed for something though, being flat.

这种平坦地势赋予了林肯郡地缘政治重要性。

And that flatness has given Lincolnshire a geopolitical significance.

这里是建立空军基地的理想之地。

It's perfect for air bases.

注意。

Attention.

注意。

Attention.

注意。

Attention.

这是一次行动。

This is an operation.

紧急起飞。

Scramble.

紧急起飞。

Scramble.

紧急起飞。

Scramble.

注意中。

In Attention.

1974年，林肯郡是英国皇家空军V部队的驻地，巨大的火神轰炸机呼啸着从这条长跑道上起飞，构成英国核威慑力量的一部分。

The 1974, Lincolnshire is home to v force of the RAF, the giant Vulcan bombers screaming up this long runway a part of Britain's nuclear deterrent.

如果苏联发动突然的原子弹袭击，这些皇家空军机组人员仅有几分钟的预警时间升空反击，对卡尔·马克思城、明斯克或莫斯科实施毁灭性报复打击。

If The Soviet Union launches a surprise atomic strike, these Royal Air Force crews have just a few minutes warning to get into the air and hit back, devastating Karl Marckstadt, Minsk, or Moscow in retaliation.

考虑到即将执行的任务，火神轰炸机飞行员们无疑心事重重，但几乎没人浪费时间考虑返航的问题。

The Vulcan pilots would doubtless have much on their minds given the mission ahead, but few wasted time in thinking of their return home.

一个相当合理的假设是：当他们执行任务时，俄国人会把林肯郡及其跑道夷为平地。

The quite reasonable assumption is that the Russians would pulverize Lincolnshire and its runways while they were away.

那是周六傍晚时分，农民戈登·阿特金森正在白兰地码头小村庄附近的甜菜地里劳作，远处的噪音让他从农活中抬起头来。

It's late on a Saturday afternoon when farmer Gordon Atkinson is working in a sugar beet field near the hamlet of Brandy Wharf, but a distant noise prompts him to look up from his labors.

他说：‘我听到隆隆声，还以为要下雷雨了。’

I heard this rumble and thought, it's gonna be a thunderstorm, he said.

但那滚滚轰鸣并非天灾所为。

But that rolling boom was no act of God.

其根源来自人为。

Its origins were man made.

一场巨大的爆炸刚刚席卷林肯郡北部。

An enormous explosion has just ripped across Northern Lincolnshire.

如果说戈登·阿特金森对此还不太确定，他的老母亲则再清楚不过。

And if that wasn't obvious to Gordon Atkinson, it was all too clear to his elderly mother.

她原本在家中度过一个宁静的下午，距离爆炸中心点仅有20英里。

She's been spending a quiet afternoon at home, 20 miles nearer the epicenter of the detonation.

她的房屋此刻已是一片狼藉。

Her house was now a shambles.

爆炸将前门从铰链上撕下，使其如火箭般冲上楼梯直达二楼。

The blast ripped the front door off its hinges and sent it rocketing up the staircase to the floor above.

如果阿特金森夫人还能看清，她或许会为客厅的惨状绝望——满地都是玻璃碎片和窗帘布的残骸。

If she could see, missus Atkinson might have despaired at the state of her lounge, littered as it was with shards of glass and tatters of curtain cloth.

但她看不见。

But she couldn't see.

爆炸冲击波呼啸着冲下烟囱，整个房子被一层令人窒息的漆黑煤灰笼罩。

The blast wave had come whooshing down the chimney stack, filling the house with a blinding, choking veil of soot.

距离爆炸点十英里、二十英里甚至三十英里的人们都停下脚步，望向阿特金森夫人所在的弗利克斯伯勒村方向。

People ten, twenty, even 30 miles from the explosion stopped in their tracks to look in the direction of missus Atkinson's village, Flicksborough.

少女卢德维娜·贝克斯正和四个兄弟一起看电视转播的足球赛。

Teenager Ludwina Beckers was watching the football on TV with her four brothers.

一家人冲到窗前张望时，还开玩笑猜测这声响可能是什么造成的。

Rushing to look out the window, the family joked about what the source of the noise might be.

但随后我们看到了天空中那朵不祥的蘑菇云，卢德维娜说道。

But then we saw the mushroom cloud, dark and ominous in the sky, said Ludrina.

贝克斯家中的所有笑声戛然而止。

All laughter in the Becker's household stopped.

第三次世界大战真的爆发了吗？

Had World War three really begun?

我是蒂姆·哈福德，您正在收听另一个警示故事。

I'm Tim Harford, and you're listening to another cautionary tale.

您可能从未听说过聚己内酰胺，即使它有个更响亮的名称——尼龙6，但我敢打赌此刻您触手可及之处就有尼龙6制品。

You've probably never heard of polycaprolactam even by its snappier moniker, nylon six, but I'll bet there's some nylon six within arm's reach of you right now.

它被用于制造各种物品。

It's used in all manner of items.

牙刷的刷毛和网球拍的网线都由它制成。

It makes the bristles of toothbrushes and the strings of tennis rackets.

几乎每件电子设备内部都能找到它的身影。

You can find it inside almost every electrical gadget.

由于尼龙6可用于制作医疗植入物，您体内可能就有它的存在。

And since nylon six is used to fashion medical implants, you might even have some inside you.

尼龙6强度高、硬度大且韧性极佳。

Nylon six is strong, hard, and tough.

它不导电，也不会污染与其接触的食品。

It won't conduct electricity and doesn't taint foods it comes into contact with.

这是非常实用的材料，很难想象没有它的世界会怎样。

It's useful stuff, and it would be hard to imagine our world without it.

如果没有尼龙六号，驾驶飞机、开车甚至早晨穿衣都会变得截然不同。

Flying a plane, driving a car, or even getting dressed in the morning would be a very different proposition without nylon six.

尼龙六号是纳粹德国的发明。

Nylon six was an invention of Nazi Germany.

这种聚合物曾被用于制作降落伞伞衣、战机轮胎和滑翔机牵引绳。

The polymer was used to make parachute canopies, tires for warplanes, and the tow ropes of gliders.

但尼龙六号的生产真正在战后年代蓬勃发展，世界各地的工厂都在大量生产这种材料。

But nylon six production really boomed in the postwar years with factories around the world pumping out the stuff.

根据你居住的地区不同，它可能以Perlon、Nylotron、Ultramid或Durathan等品牌销售。

Depending on where you lived, it might be marketed as Perlon, Nylotron, Ultramid, or Durathan.

我不会用制造细节来烦你，但这个故事的核心是关于制造尼龙六号原料己内酰胺的生产过程。

I won't bore you with the details of its manufacture, but this story centers around the production of caprolactam from which nylon six is made.

到了二十世纪七十年代，尼龙六号的需求量巨大。

By the nineteen seventies, nylon six was in huge demand.

这种纤维材料无处不在，甚至一度流行用它们将整个家庭的地板从墙到墙铺满地毯。

The fibers were so ubiquitous that there was even a fashion for people to carpet their entire homes wall to wall with the stuff.

为了满足这一热潮，荷兰国家矿业公司与英国国家煤炭委员会合资成立了一家企业。

To meet this clamor, a joint venture was launched by the Dutch state mines and the British National Coal Board.

弗利克斯伯勒曾有一座小型工厂，利用当地钢铁铸造厂的废渣生产肥料。

There had been a modest factory at Flicksborough making fertilizer from the mucky waste from local steel foundries.

但如今以'Nitro'为名，弗利克斯伯勒正进军光鲜亮丽的高分子聚合物领域。

But now under the name Nitro, Flixborough was getting into the glamorous world of polymers.

该工厂将耗资数百万英镑进行改造，员工规模将扩大至数百人。

The plant would be transformed at the cost of many millions of pounds, and the workforce would swell into the hundreds.

当地报纸很快登满了招聘化学师、工程师、速记打字员和食堂工作人员的广告。

Local newspapers soon filled up with recruitment ads for chemists, engineers, shorthand typists, and canteen staff.

预计该综合体每年将消耗相当于50万人口城市的电力，全部用于生产7万吨己内酰胺。

It was expected the complex would use as much power as a city of half a million people, all to produce 70,000 tons of caprolactam per year.

这将成为英国最大——事实上也是唯一——的己内酰胺生产工厂。

It would be Britain's biggest, indeed, its only caprolactam plant.

Nipro公司实质上是在孤注一掷。

Nipro was essentially putting all its eggs in one basket.

对许多人而言，这种逻辑似乎很合理——建造单一巨型工厂能带来显著的规模经济效应。

And to many, this reasoning seems sound, Building a single mega factory offered considerable economies of scale.

这将简化运输与物流流程，并让Nypro能够达成能源与原材料的大宗采购协议。

It would simplify transport and logistics and allow Nypro to strike bulk buying deals for energy and raw materials.

于是在宁静的林肯郡乡村，沿着宽阔特伦特河的弯道，硝化工厂迅速拔地而起。

So in sleepy rural Lincolnshire, on a curve of the broad river trend, the nitro works quickly took shape.

巨型起重机将闪亮的不锈钢处理罐吊装就位。

Gargantuan cranes hoisted gleaming steel processing tanks into place.

烟囱、冷却塔与细高的火炬烟囱相继矗立。

Chimneys and cooling towers went up as did tall spindly flare stacks.

入夜后，火炬的火焰与无数串灯光在夜空中勾勒出工厂的剪影。

After dark, their flames, along with countless strings of lights, picked out the silhouette of the plant against the night sky.

丹尼斯·劳伦斯是Nypro的员工之一。

Dennis Lawrence was one of Nypro's employees.

他告诉家人，自己非常热爱这份工作。

He loved the job, he told his family.

这家工厂是如此现代化，如此干净整洁。

The plant was just so modern, so clean.

但Nitro公司的情况并不乐观。

But all was not well at Nitro.

原定目标是年产7万吨己内酰胺。

The target was to produce 70,000 tons of caprolactam per year.

但到了1974年，扩建两年后，工厂年产量预计仅能达到4.7万吨。

But by 1974, two years into the expansion, only 47,000 tons were likely to leave the factory gate.

Nipro公司要想盈利，就必须迅速提高产量。

For Nipro to turn a profit, they needed to make more of the stuff and quickly.

工厂的核心是六个相同的钢制反应釜。

The heart of the factory was a series of six identical steel reactor vessels.

这些圆柱形反应釜呈直线排列，通过管道相互连接。

These cylindrical tanks were installed in a line and connected by pipework.

第一个16英尺高的容器是这条生产线中最高的。

The first 16 foot tall vessel was the highest in this chain.

第二个容器比第一个低14英寸，依此类推。

The second vessel was placed 14 inches lower and so on.

这样，重力将帮助化学品从一个容器流向另一个。

Thus, gravity would aid the flow of chemicals from one down to the next.

容器内的化学物质是液态环己烷，它在流动过程中被加压、加热，然后与压缩空气混合。

And the chemical inside was liquid cyclohexane, which was pressurized, heated, and then blasted with compressed air as it traveled through the vessel.

尼普罗公司的高管们对工厂的这一部分寄予厚望，但迄今为止，它的运行一直问题重重。

The bosses at Nitro had high hopes for this part of the plant, but so far, its operation was proving troublesome.

尼普罗工人丹尼斯·劳伦斯向妻子透露，设备曾发生过泄漏。

Nipro worker, Dennis Lawrence, confided to his wife that there had been leaks.

她对此感到不安，并担心他的安全。

She didn't like the sound of that and worried for his safety.

毕竟，环己烷是一种极其易燃的液体。

Cyclohexane is, after all, an incredibly flammable liquid.

当它泄漏到露天环境中时，极易汽化形成致命的可燃云团。

And when it escapes into the open air, it tends to vaporize, forming a deadly combustible cloud.

兼职消防员的丹尼斯曾告诉妻子，如果环己烷储罐发生爆炸，现场无人能够生还。

Dennis, a part time firefighter, had told his wife that if the cyclohexane tanks ever went up, there'd be no hope for anyone on the site.

管理层对这些风险心知肚明。

The management was alive to these risks.

到岗工人需接受检查，没收香烟、火柴和打火机。

Arriving workers were frisked for cigarettes, matches, and lighters.

而最接近化学品作业的技术人员需穿着特制鞋具以降低产生火花的风险。

And the technicians who worked closest to the chemicals wore special shoes to reduce the risk of creating a spark.

但据称，即便有人穿着时髦尼龙衬衫快速移动，产生的静电也足以引发爆炸。

That said, it was feared that even someone shifting too quickly in a fashionable nylon shirt could produce enough static charge to ignite an explosion.

因此当1974年3月发现第六个钢制反应釜中的第五个出现六英尺长裂缝时，整个生产线立即被关停冷却。

Naturally, when a six foot long crack was discovered in the fifth of the six steel reactor vessels in March 1974, the whole array was immediately closed down and allowed to cool off.

虽迅速决定移除五号反应釜，但为免昂贵停产，决定用临时管道连接剩余反应釜继续运行以替代五号位。

It was swiftly decided that vessel five should be removed, but that a costly shutdown could be avoided if the remaining vessels were pressed back into service connected with a temporary pipe where Reactor 5 should have been.

这根管道只需在现场设计和建造即可。

This pipe would simply have to be designed and built on-site.

没有任何权威人士认为这是一个鲁莽或危险的决定。

No one in authority thought this a reckless or hazardous decision.

据说他们只将其视为一项常规的管道工程。

They were said to regard it as no more than a routine plumbing job.

但遗憾的是，我们往往无法意识到自己的认知盲区。

But, unfortunately, we don't always know what we don't know.

机械工程师本可以告诉他们，制造这样一根管道困难重重。

A mechanical engineer might have told them that fabricating such a pipe was fraught with difficulties.

尽管弗利克斯伯勒工厂在报纸上刊登了招聘厨师、文员和绘图员的广告，但机械工程师的职位空缺通知依然无人填补。

But amongst all the newspaper ads for cooks and clerks and draftsmen to join the workforce at Flicksborough, there was also a situations vacant notice for a mechanical engineer, and that position had yet to be filled.

警示故事稍后继续。

Cautionary tales will return shortly.

经营企业却从未考虑过播客？

Run a business and not thinking about podcasting?

再考虑考虑吧。

Think again.

收听播客的美国人比通过Spotify和Pandora收听广告支持流媒体音乐的人还要多。

More Americans listen to podcasts than ad supported streaming music from Spotify and Pandora.

作为头号播客平台，iHeart的规模是第二名和第三名总和的两倍。

And as the number one podcaster, iHeart's twice as large as the next two combined.

因此无论您的客户收听什么内容，他们都能听到您的信息。

So whatever your customers listen to, they'll hear your message.

此外，只有iHeart能将您的信息触达广播电台的听众群体。

Plus, only iHeart can extend your message to audiences across broadcast radio.

认为播客能助力您的业务吗？

Think podcasting can help your business?

选择iHeart。

Think iHeart.

流媒体、广播与播客。

Streaming, radio, and podcasting.

让我们在iheartadvertising.com上为您展示。

Let us show you at iheartadvertising.com.

网址是iheartadvertising.com。

That's iheartadvertising.com.

你应该告诉大家我们是谁，以及我们的新节目是什么。

You should tell the people who we are and what our new show is.

我是罗伯特·史密斯，

I'm Robert Smith,

这位是雅各布·戈德斯坦。

and this is Jacob Goldstein.

我们曾主持过一档名为《金钱星球》的节目。

And we used to host a show called Planet Money.

现在我们回归制作这档新播客，讲述历史上最伟大的创意、人物和商业故事。

And now we're back making this new podcast about the best ideas and people and businesses in history.

当然也包括一些最糟糕的人物，

And some of the worst people,

历史上糟糕的想法和破坏性的公司

horrible ideas, and destructive companies in the history

的商业。

of business.

我们绞尽脑汁

We struggled

想不出名字，最后决定叫它《商业历史》。

to come up with a name, decided to call it Business History.

知道为什么吗？

You know why?

为什么？

Why?

因为这档节目讲的就是商业的历史。

Because it's a show about the history of business.

现已上线

Available

你可以在任何播客平台收听。

everywhere you get your podcasts.

临时管道的设计方案据说是用粉笔画在工厂车间地板上的。

The plans for the temporary pipe were supposedly sketched out in chalk on the floor of the factory's workshop.

如果这听起来已经够草率了，那你还没听到更糟的部分。

And if that sounds worryingly cavalier, you haven't heard the half of it.

原有管道负责在容器间输送加压的高温液态环己烷，直径达28英寸。

The existing pipes carrying pressurized and scalding hot liquid cyclohexane from vessel to vessel measured 28 inches across.

但硝化工厂现场找不到这种尺寸的备用管道。

But no spare piping of that size could be found laying around the nitro plant.

他们没有延迟维修去订购新管道，而是用了一段现成的20英寸管道替代，其容量仅为原管道的一半。

Instead of delaying the repair to order some, a handy length of 20 inch pipe was substituted, roughly half the capacity of the original.

将环己烷从粗管道压入细管道会产生问题，但粗略计算让硝化工厂管理层相信小管道能承受这种压力。

Pushing the cyclohexane from a broad pipe into a thinner one creates issues, but some rough calculations reassured the Nitro bosses that the smaller pipe could take the strain.

但原先的28英寸管道是笔直铺设的。

But the original 28 inch pipes ran straight.

由于移除了5号反应器，硝化工厂的工人现在需要其较小的替代管道来适应从4号容器到6号容器的高度显著下降。

And by removing Reactor 5, the nitro workers now needed its smaller replacement to accommodate the considerable drop in height from vessel 4 to vessel 6.

于是他们在新管道上焊接了两个接头，使其形成折弯。

So they gave the new pipe a dogleg by welding two joints along its length.

现在这条管道先直行一段，下降，再直行一段，再次下降，最后接入6号反应容器。

So now the pipe ran straight, dropped down, ran straight a bit more, dropped down again, and then joined Reactor Vessel 6.

如果他们查阅过相关安全标准，这些给管道制造弯折的工人就会知道他们的焊接工艺达不到要求。

If they'd consulted the relevant safety standards, the men putting these kinks in the pipe would have known that their welds weren't up to the task.

因为当你迫使流动的液体改变方向时，会在管道弯曲处产生额外的压力。

For when you force a moving liquid to change direction, it puts extra strain on the points where your pipe bends.

这些已经很糟糕了，但事情还没完。

This is all bad, but we're still not finished.

作用于管道两个弯折处的力还会产生所谓的扭转力矩，导致金属结构以令人担忧的方式移位和扭曲。

The forces acting on the pipes two bends would also cause a so called turning moment, causing the metalwork to shift and twist in worrying ways.

为了抵消这些力，你需要将整个结构牢固地固定住。

To counteract these forces, you need to secure the whole structure firmly.

但当尼普罗工人们将替换管道吊装到位时，他们只是将其架设在几根脆弱的脚手架杆上。

But as they hoisted their replacement pipe into place, the Nypro workers merely perched it on some flimsy scaffolding poles.

每根原始管道都配有波纹管接头——本质上是一段可以伸缩移动的橡胶部件，有助于吸收作用于刚性金属结构的部分应力。

Each original pipe was fitted with a bellows joint, essentially a rubber section that could expand and move to help absorb some of the forces acting on the rigid metalwork.

没人想到要询问这些橡胶接头的制造商：它们是否足够坚固以承受这套临时管道系统的应力？如果替换管道开始扭曲蠕动，这些波纹管接头会不会直接爆裂？

No one thought to ask the manufacturer of these rubber joints if they were strong enough to absorb the forces play in this jerry rigged pipework, if the replacement pipe began to buck and squirm, would these bellows joints just split apart?

机械工程师本可以立即发现所有这些隐患，但现场偏偏没有这样的人。

A mechanical engineer would immediately have spotted all these dangers, but there wasn't one on-site.

负责尼普罗工厂运营的是一名化学工程师。

A chemical engineer ran the NIPRO operation.

毫无疑问他在本领域受过严格训练，但当时的专业教育非常局限，甚至不会涉及最基本的机械原理。

He was no doubt highly trained in his own field, but such training was narrow back then and wouldn't have included even the most basic mechanical concepts.

监督维修团队的是一名电气工程师，而且他并未接受过大学本科教育。

It was an electrical engineer who oversaw the repair crew, and he wasn't educated to degree level.

更不可能指望工人们自己发现这个设计中的缺陷。

And the workmen themselves can hardly have been expected to spot the flaws in the design.

更糟糕的是，他们正以极快的速度赶工完成这项任务。

What's more, they were working at breakneck speed to complete the job.

5号容器的裂缝是在1974年3月27日被发现的。

The crack in vessel five had been spotted on 03/27/1974.

从吊装到位开始，替换管道的设计、建造和安装仅用了三十个小时。

Once it had been lifted clear, the design, building, and installation of the replacement pipe had taken just thirty hours.

随后他们对这个弯折管件进行了相当敷衍的测试。

There followed a rather half hearted attempt to test the doglegged assembly.

测试时向管道内注入的是气体而非液体，压力仅模拟系统正常工况——注意是正常工况。

Gas rather than liquid was pushed into the pipe at pressures approximating the normal operation of the system, the normal operation mine.

没有人考虑过压力异常飙升的情况。

No thought was given to an abnormal spike in pressure.

当然，系统装有安全阀，当压力过大可能引发容器和原始管道爆裂时能释放压力。

The system, of course, had a safety valve to release pressure if such a spike became too much and threatened to burst the vessels and original pipes.

但从未测试过替换管道是否会在安全阀启动前就发生失效。

But the replacement pipe was never tested to see if it would fail before this safety valve kicked in.

因此，1974年4月，就在反应容器破裂仅五天后，Flixborough工厂便恢复运转，继续氧化高度易燃的环己烷。

So on April 1974, just five days after the vessel cracked, Flixborough was back at work, oxidizing highly flammable cyclohexane.

Nipro公司的管理层和董事会无疑对这一表现感到欣喜。

The management and board of Nipro were no doubt delighted by this performance.

己内酰胺的对外输出得以恢复，资金的流入也同样如此。

The outward flow of caprolactam could resume, and so too could the inward flow of money.

当你像Nitro公司那样集中生产、把所有鸡蛋放在一个篮子里时，虽然能获得可观的收益，但始终伴随着风险。

Whenever you centralize production, when you put all your eggs in one basket as Nitro had, you can realize considerable gains, but this always comes with risk.

在最近一期新播客《商业历史》中，主持人Jacob Goldstein探讨了美国西南航空的成功案例。

In a recent episode of the new podcast business history, host Jacob Goldstein looked at the success of the American Airlines Southwest.

西南航空最初是德克萨斯州的一家廉价地区性航空公司，但其精简运营模式很快使其成为全国性大型航司，连续47年保持年年盈利。

Southwest began as a budget regional carrier out of Texas, but it's no frills approach soon made it a major national airline, able to turn a profit each and every year for forty seven years.

这在航空界是无可匹敌的成就。

That's an unrivaled feat in the aviation world.

这一成功的秘诀之一就是标准化。

One of the secrets to this success was standardization.

其他航空公司可能同时运营波音747大型喷气式飞机、空客A380或小型短途飞机等混合机队，而西南航空基本上只使用波音737机型。

While other airlines might have mixed fleets of Boeing seven four seven jumbo jets or Airbus a three eighties or smaller short haul aircraft, Southwest has only really ever operated the Boeing seven three seven.

这为西南航空大幅降低了运营难度和成本。

This made life much easier and cheaper for Southwest.

飞行员、乘务员和地勤人员只需掌握单一机型的特性。

Pilots, flight attendants, and ground crew only had to learn the foibles of a single aircraft type.

因此，培训时间得以缩短。

Thus, training time was reduced.

当员工生病或飞机故障时，调换人员与飞机更加容易，航班得以继续运行。

When staff went sick or planes broke down, substitutions were easier and flights could continue.

但2018年发生了两起涉及波音737 MAX的致命空难中的第一起。

But in 2018 came the first of two deadly crashes involving a Boeing seven three seven MAX.

这两次航班均非西南航空运营，但当局仍停飞了该型号所有飞机。

Neither flight was operated by Southwest, but the authorities grounded all aircraft of that type.

737 MAX占西南航空机队的三分之一，这一打击使其运营陷入瘫痪，损失近10亿美元收入。

Seven three seven MAXs made up a third of Southwest's fleet, a crippling blow to its operation that lost it nearly $1,000,000,000 in revenue.

因此，节省下来的成本可能会在抗风险能力上失去。

So what you gain in savings can be lost in resilience.

在弗利克斯伯勒，尼普罗公司已经发现了建造单一巨型己内酰胺工厂的风险。

At Flixborough, Nitpro had discovered the risks of building one mega factory to make caprolactam.

一个反应釜的裂缝就导致生产停滞，让重要客户失望，并进一步推迟了这个问题工厂实现盈利的时间。

A single cracked reactor vessel had halted production, disappointing important customers, and further delaying the day when the troubled plant would turn a profit.

难怪当时仓促决定了一个解决方案，安装了这个临时拼凑的弯管作为应急措施。

It's little wonder then that a solution was hurriedly decided upon and a temporary fix, the bodged together dogleg pipe installed.

事实上，尼普罗公司急于恢复生产，甚至没有调查5号反应釜裂缝的原因，也没有检查其他反应釜是否有即将失效的迹象。

In fact, Nypro was so desperate to get back to work that the cause of the crack in vessel five wasn't investigated, nor were the other vessels checked for the signs of any impending failure.

因此在1974年4月和5月期间，环己烷在没有事故的情况下通过了氧化系统。

So throughout April and May 1974, cyclohexane was driven through the oxidizing system without mishap.

这个在现场临时拼凑的弯管应急措施变成了永久性方案。

The temporary fix, the bent pipe knocked up on-site became permanent.

这个临时方案本就不明智，而不寻求升级更是错上加错。

The temporary fix was folly, but not seeking to upgrade it compounded that error.

看看你的家、汽车或工作场所。

Look around your home or car or workplace.

你很可能会发现某个地方有损坏后仓促修复得不太理想的固定装置或电器。

You might well see a fixture or appliance somewhere that broke and was quickly repaired in a less than ideal way.

也许一根磨损的电线被胶带缠了起来，或者重要的办公室IT系统崩溃后通过临时解决方案恢复了运行。

Perhaps a frayed electrical cable was wrapped up with adhesive tape or an important office IT system that fell over and was brought back online with a temporary workaround.

正如散文家HL·门肯所写：每个复杂问题都有一个清晰、简单但错误的解决方案。

For every complex problem, wrote the essayist HL Mencken, There is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong.

门肯说得有道理。

Mencken had a point.

所谓的权宜之计很诱人，但从长远来看，可能比它们要解决的问题更具破坏性。

So called Band Aid solutions are tempting, but in the long run can prove to be more damaging than the problems they were meant to solve.

以修补IT系统为例。

Take the example of patching up an IT system.

你或许能让办公室所有人都重新用上电脑，但一行仓促编写的代码就像墙上一块腐烂的砖，会让整个建筑结构变得不那么稳固。

You may get everyone in the office back up on their computers, but a rushed line of code, like a rotten brick in a wall, can make the whole edifice less sturdy.

而从长远来看，廉价的修补往往代价高昂。

And a cheap fix often proves expensive in the longer term.

临时凑合和权宜之计会让IT网络的维护变得更加困难。

Bodges and Band Aids make it harder to maintain an IT network.

几周或几个月后，一场灾难性的系统崩溃可能会毁掉你的生意。

Then weeks or months down the line, a catastrophic outage destroys your business.

家庭中也是如此。

It's the same at home.

如果你曾想过用胶带缠住磨损的电线，千万别这么做。

If you're ever tempted to wrap a frayed electric cable with some tape, don't.

以下是伦敦消防队的建议。

Here's the advice of the London fire brigade.

务必更换故障导线。

Always replace faulty leads.

为了省几英镑而拿至亲和家园冒险，值得吗？

Is it worth risking your loved ones and your home for the sake of a few pounds?

这正是Ludwina Becker的父亲Hoob可能会赞同的建议。

That's exactly the kind of advice Ludwina Becker's father, Hoob, might have endorsed.

记得1974年1月6日那天，少女Ludwina和她的四个兄弟正安坐家中准备观看电视足球赛。

Teenage Ludwina and her four brothers, remember, were settling down at home on 06/01/1974 to watch football on TV.

他们的父亲Hube本要去硝化工厂上班，却因注意到异常而停下了脚步。

Their dad, Hube, was setting off for work at the nitro plant, but paused because he noticed something amiss.

Ludwina已记不清具体是什么问题。

Ludwina doesn't recall what it was.

也许是门把手松动或铺路石翘起，但她清楚记得父亲立即停下脚步进行修理。

A rattly door handle perhaps or a loose paving stone, but she does remember her dad stopping immediately to put it right.

她说父亲总是细致入微地保持物品的良好工作状态。

He was always meticulous with keeping things in good working order, she said.

修理完成后，Hube比原计划稍晚些出发前往Flicksborough的工厂。

The fix completed, Hube began his slightly delayed drive to Flicksborough and his plant.

因为Hube Beckers正是硝化工厂的总经理，也是批准安装那个Z形管道的人。

For Hube Beckers was Nitro's general manager and the man who'd greenlit that dog legged pipe.

警示故事稍后继续。

Cautionary tales will be back in a moment.

经营企业却从未考虑过播客？

Run a business and not thinking about podcasting?

再想想吧。

Think again.

收听播客的美国人比使用Spotify和Pandora广告版音乐流媒体的还多。

More Americans listen to podcasts than ad supported streaming music from Spotify and Pandora.

作为头号播客平台，iHeart的规模是第二名和第三名总和的两倍。

And as the number one podcaster, iHeart's twice as large as the next two combined.

无论您的客户收听什么内容，他们都能听到您的信息。

So whatever your customers listen to, they'll hear your message.

此外，唯有iHeart能将您的信息传递至广播电台的广大听众。

Plus, only iHeart can extend your message to audiences across broadcast radio.

认为播客能助力您的业务吗？

Think podcasting can help your business?

想想iHeart。

Think iHeart.

流媒体、广播和播客。

Streaming, radio, and podcasting.

让我们在iheartadvertising.com为您展示。

Let us show you at iheartadvertising.com.

网址是iheartadvertising.com。

That's iheartadvertising.com.

你应该告诉大家我们是谁以及我们的新节目是什么。

You should tell the people who we are and what our new show is.

我是罗伯特·史密斯，

I'm Robert Smith,

这位是雅各布·戈德斯坦。

and this is Jacob Goldstein.

我们曾主持过一个叫《金钱星球》的节目。

And we used to host a show called Planet Money.

现在我们回归，制作这档关于历史上最伟大思想、人物和商业的新播客。

And now we're back making this new podcast about the best ideas and people and businesses in history.

以及一些最糟糕的人物，

And some of the worst people,

可怕的想法，和具有破坏性的公司，在

horrible ideas, and destructive companies in the

商业史上。

history of business.

我们绞尽脑汁

We struggled to come up

想名字，最终决定叫它《商业历史》。

with a name, decided to call it Business History.

你知道为什么吗？

You know why?

为什么？

Why?

因为这档节目讲的就是商业史。

Because it's a show about the history of business.

商业。

Business.

全平台均可收听。

Available everywhere.

你会收听到新的播客节目。

You get new podcasts.

在那个阳光明媚的六月周六下午，丹尼斯·劳伦斯也在尼特罗公司值午班。

Dennis Lawrence was also on the afternoon shift at Nitro that sunny June Saturday.

轮到他负责供应茶点，所以他中途停车买了些茶叶和糖。

It was his turn to supply refreshments, so he'd stopped to pick up some tea and sugar.

丹尼斯很享受在工厂控制室里同事间的情谊。

Dennis enjoyed the camaraderie of working in the plants control room.

48岁的他比那些喊他'老爷子'的小伙子们年长，但他是团队里很受欢迎的一员。

At 48, he was older than the other lads who called him granddad, but he was a popular member of the team.

确实，他如此和蔼可亲，以至于在前一年的圣诞员工派对上扮演了圣诞老人。

Indeed, he was so avuncular that he'd played Santa Claus at the staff party the previous Christmas.

那个夏日，丹尼斯的心情格外好。

Dennis was in a particularly good mood that summer's day.

他熬过了一些财务困境，刚刚还清了破产债务的最后一笔款项。

He'd weathered some financial difficulties but had just made the final repayment on his bankruptcy debts.

他终于无债一身轻了。

He was in the clear at last.

控制室是工厂的大脑，它永不停歇。

The control room was the brains of the plant, and it never stopped.

生产己内酰胺是一项24.07美元的生意。

Making caprolactam was a $24.07 business.

但在周六，尼普罗公司的绘图员、文员和厨师都不需要上班。

But on a Saturday, there was no need for Nypro's draftsman, clerks, and cooks.

整个厂区只有大约70人在工作，而不是平时的300人。

Instead of 300 workers, only around 70 people were working across the site.

工厂各处的工作间、仓库和实验室里都有工人。

There were men in workshops, storehouses, and laboratories dotted all over the estate.

保安托马斯·克鲁克斯正在值班。

Thomas Crooks, the security guard, was on duty.

还有一名油罐车司机也把车停在了工厂。

A tanker truck driver had parked up at the factory too.

大约一两天前，人们发现剩下的五个反应容器中有几处泄漏。

A day or so earlier, several leaks had been detected in the five remaining reactor vessels.

这些泄漏时有时无，似乎能自行修复。

These leaks came and went, seeming to fix themselves.

由于靠近易燃的环己烷作业所需的防爆专用工具被锁起来无法取用，所以没有进行检查。

No inspection was made since the special spark proof tools needed to work so close to the flammable cyclohexane had been locked away and couldn't be accessed.

控制室里，丹尼斯·劳伦斯正在泡茶，而他的同事们则专注地监控着仪表盘，持续调整以保持将环己烷转化为己内酰胺所需的正确压力和温度。

In the control room, Dennis Lawrence was making the tea while his colleagues were diligently monitoring their dials and meters, keeping up the constant balancing act to maintain the right pressure and right temperature to convert cyclohexane into caprolactam.

但在北面的一个工作间里，气氛要轻松得多。

But things were much more relaxed in a workshop to the north.

仪表技术员约翰·欧文自三点打卡上班以来一直没什么事可做。

Instrument technician John Irvin hadn't had much to do since clocking on at three.

下午5点将至，他想着趁还没人打电话报告仪表故障，先吃自带的三明治午餐。

5PM was fast approaching, so he thought he'd start on his packed lunch of sandwiches before anyone could call to report a faulty gauge.

刚吃没几口，一声巨响震彻工厂，随后是呼啸声，如同高速列车逼近。

It made scant progress when a noise boomed across the plant, followed by a whoosh, like the approach of an express train.

透过车间窗户，约翰看到人们正冲向控制室，另一些人则以同样紧急的速度撤离。

Through the workshop window, John could see men running into the control room while others left it with equal urgency.

技术员放下三明治，冲向门口加入逃亡人群。

The technician put down his sandwich and made for the door to join those fleeing.

约翰听到的第一声巨响是四号与六号反应釜间临时管道的爆裂。

The first boom John had heard was the temporary pipe between reactor vessels four and six breaking open.

呼啸声是高温环己烷泄漏到空气中形成的巨大可燃云团。

The whoosh was hot cyclohexane escaping into the air and forming a vast flammable cloud.

这片云团飘过化工厂区，遇到火花或明火只是时间问题。

Drifting across the chemical works, it was only a matter of time before this cloud encountered a spark or flame.

约翰说，爆炸的景象总是先于声音传入眼帘。

You see the explosion before you hear it, said John.

一片火浪正以惊人的速度朝我扑来。

A tsunami of flame coming towards me at great speed.

那一刻我尖叫了起来。

That's when I screamed.

随后是一阵猛烈的气浪，我记得自己被掀离地面，接着有什么东西击中了我的头部。

Then there was a tremendous gust of wind, and I remember being lifted off the ground and then something hitting me on the head.

当约翰恢复意识时，车间已经坍塌压在他身上。

When John regained consciousness, the workshop had collapsed on him.

天花板塌陷，墙壁内凹，窗户粉碎，室内物品散落各处。

The ceiling was down, the walls punched in, windows shattered, and the contents of the room flung around.

幸运的是，一些坚固的工作台经受住了爆炸，为这位年轻技术员提供了庇护，使他免于被压垮。

Fortunately, some sturdy workbenches had withstood the blast and sheltered the young technician from being crushed.

这些工作台还为他提供了一条逃生通道——一条离开建筑物的隧道。

They also offered him an escape route, a tunnel to exit the building.

就这样，一段地狱般的旅程开始了。

Thus began a hellish journey.

约翰的每根手指都断了。

Every one of John's fingers had been broken.

但他用双手和满是伤口的膝盖，爬过了尖锐的玻璃碎片。

But on hands and lacerated knees, he crossed the glass in sharp rubble.

我爬行着，尖叫着，却连自己的尖叫声都听不见。

I crawled, and I was screaming, but I couldn't even hear my own screams.

爆炸重创了约翰。

The blast had John.

然而这还不是他最紧迫的问题，因为爆炸还让他失明了。

That wasn't his most urgent problem, though, because the explosion also left him blinded.

他疯狂地从一个房间爬到另一个房间，最终来到了外面。

He scrabbled madly from room to room, eventually finding himself outside.

他熟悉工厂的布局，但现在却在一片陌生的景象中盲目摸索，不断撞上意想不到的障碍物。

He knew the layout of the plant, but now stumbled sightless through an unfamiliar landscape, repeatedly crashing into unexpected obstacles.

在迷失方向的情况下，约翰最害怕的是会跌入他知道沿途某处存在的酸液储存池。

Disoriented, John most feared plunging into an acid storage pit he knew was somewhere along his route.

奇迹般地，他走过了酸液池上方的狭窄通道而没有跌入其中。

Miraculously, he negotiated the catwalk over the acid pool without tottering in.

‘那时我彻底迷路了，’约翰说。

At that point, I got hopelessly lost, said John.

我站起来好几次，挥舞双手并大声呼救。

I stood up a few times and waved my hands around and shouted for help.

没有人回应他的呼救。

No one answered his calls.

双目失明且被熊熊烈火包围，这位重伤的技术员颓然倒在废墟中，彻底绝望了。

Blinded and surrounded by raging fires, a badly wounded technician slumped down in the rubble, defeated.

‘我当时觉得自己死定了。’

I just thought I was going to die.

就在这时，约翰感觉到有只手搭上了他的肩膀。

John then felt a hand on his shoulder.

看到爆炸后，两名不当班的NIPRO工人立即赶往工厂。

On seeing the explosion, two off duty NIPRO workers had rushed to the plant.

他们用一扇破损的门当担架，将约翰转移到了安全地带。

Using a broken down door as a stretcher, they carried John to safety.

志愿救护队也迅速赶到灾难现场，在没有麻醉的情况下开始缝合约翰脸上众多伤口中最严重的几处。

Volunteer ambulance crew had also hurried to the disaster and without anesthetic began to stitch up the worst of the many wounds across John's face.

‘他们尽力帮我清理干净，’约翰说道，他原以为只是这些伤口的血迹模糊了他的视线。

They managed to clean me up as best they could, said John, who assumed it was just the blood from these cuts that was obscuring his vision.

然而，这些伤势将彻底改变他的人生。

His injuries would, however, prove to be life changing.

22岁的约翰·欧文从此再也看不见了。

22 year old John Irvin would never see again.

五英里外，丹尼斯·劳伦斯的家人目瞪口呆地望向爆炸的方向。

Five miles away, the family of Dennis Lawrence gazed dumbfounded towards the explosion.

尼普罗工厂真的爆炸了吗？

Had Nypro really gone up?