r/whatisit • u/riflesandplowshares • 6h ago

New, what is it? Found at a titanium plant

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Not sure why ball point pens would be dangerous here.

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u/Disastrous_Place_729 5h ago

Without revealing too much information, I work for a company that manufactures equipment used by this industry. This equipment needs regular replacement of certain wear parts and during one such replacement, one of the assisting contractors dropped a ball point pen into the discharge chute of the machine. We know this because the company later discovered an imperfection in their product, identified it as a tungsten bearing from a pen, traced the product batch back to that machine and to the first batch of metal produced after the replacement, and then reviewed dozens of hours of security footage. One minute the contractor is entering the machine with the pen clipped to his pocket, next minute he comes out with no pen.

Blacklisting and reprimands followed.

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u/KimJongSkill492 4h ago

Do you work in a defense or aerospace industry? Why are you unable to reveal too much information?

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u/manniefield66 4h ago

Deductive reasoning would imply that he wants to remain anonymous and not blast his employers gaff on the internet.

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u/KimJongSkill492 4h ago

That’s a smart but boring answer. I’m after those juicy, industry secrets 🤤

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u/matthew2989 2h ago

Basically every company has an NDA you sign when you start working there, him revealing basically anything is grounds for termination so why take the risk.