SHOP FLOOR RULES

Bernards' Injection Molding Tips, Techniques and Technology for Shop Floor Technicians and Supervisors | home

SUPERVISION OF EMPLOYEES

Supervisors are the eyes and ears of the company. Indeed, in the eyes of the law, every word and action of a supervisor is the same as if the company itself had said the words and performed the actions. In short, you are the company. It should be your mandate that all employees be treated both equally and fairly. Equally means the same treatment for every employee and fairly means exercising moral and social justice. If an employee is to be reprimanded for an action, then all employees in the same circumstances should be reprimanded for the same action. We cannot and may not show favoritism. Favoritism has been the downfall of many a supervisors.

Fair treatment is just as important as equal treatment. Fairness is determined, in part, by company philosophy. Not all companies have the same philosophy. For example, fair and just treatment at one company for breaking a company rule may be an automatic discharge but at another company the consequences might be a day or two off work. In a manner of speaking, human compassion and the way others are treated under the same circumstances determine ultimate justice.

Take a liberal approach to employee discipline. Believe in human compassion and realize that all human beings will make mistakes. At times it may seem that you are too forgiving but realize that to error is human. Indeed, you may give people second and even third chances knowing that ultimately justice will prevail. As a supervisor, you must keep the company's philosophy utmost in your mind. Employees must be treated with human dignity. They are to be treated with respect and kindness. Employees are part of your company and they are the most important part. Ultimately the employees provide us with quality, the employees who provide us with productivity, and the employees provide you, the supervisor, with a job.

Although we would like to think that every employee is motivated to promote the company's success, we know that simply is not so. Granted, many employees have superb work ethics and can see that as the company succeeds, they will too. However, there are other employees who work solely because they need a job. Everyone needs food and shelter. Everyone needs transportation and leisure time. The employee who is motivated solely for these things cannot be faulted, it is part of human nature. The important thing is that he or she does a proper job. Every employee has a different personality. There are over four billion people on the face of the earth and there are over four billion personalities! It is not a supervisor's place to try to force employees to change their personalities. You cannot do it and you will not do it, so do not try. Instead, try to understand their personalities and find those qualities that will help them do a better job. You must be willing to bend! You must know when it is best to over look things. Do not expect all your people to come to work highly motivated. Do not expect them all to be happy with their jobs. Do what you can to help them and leave it go at that. You cannot please everyone all the time. Do not try.

Supervisors have a tremendous amount of authority over employees. They have the authority to tell people what to do and how to do it. They have the authority to discipline and to discharge. In short, they more or less have complete control over other human beings. This power and authority is carried with an awesome responsibility. It is the responsibility of knowing right from wrong. It is the responsibility of doing right when you may want to do wrong. The force of your responsibility should be more visible than the strength of your authority. Your authority was given to you, it comes from outside of you. Your responsibility comes from within you. Authority does not make you right. Situations can exist where you can be just as wrong as an employee may be. Remain open to the fact that you are not always right. There will be times when you do not have all the facts, or when things are not as they seem. Use your responsibility instead of your authority and you will handle most situations correctly.

SUGGESTED SHOP FLOOR RULES AND GUIDELINES

1) Do not accept spilled material on the floor. Your men must know that you will not accept it. If they see that you see it and you don't say anything, it is your fault if they don't clean it up. They must know that you will not tolerate spilled material.

2) Do not accept spilled material on the machine stairs or anything on the machine stairs. If your employees see that you see material or anything else on machine stairs and you say nothing, then is your fault. Everyone must know that you will not tolerate anything on the stairs. This is for the safety of your employees.

3) Do not accept crooked production skids or anything but production on skids. If your employees see that you allow crooked production skids, or empty boxes, molds etc. on skids and you say nothing, then it is your fault. Everyone must know that you will not accept crooked production skids or anything but production on those skids.

4) Do not accept anything in the finished goods area. For example, if your floormen puts material gaylords or trash cans in that area and you say nothing, then it is your fault. They must know you will not tolerate anything but finished goods in the finished goods area.

5) Never accept contaminated material on the production floor. You should never have contaminated material, but if you do you must never accept it to be on the floor. You cannot risk the possibility of it being accidentally used. Contaminated material must be identified and isolated immediately!

6) Do not permit your floormen to fill hoppers more than half full with pre-dried material when you do not have a hopper dryer on the press. If they do and you permit it, then it is your fault when you run splay.

7) Require your floormen to clean the grinder retainer of spilled material every time they empty material. If you do not make this requirement and you waste material then you are to blame.

8) Require that your floormen be active when things are slow. They could be cleaning presses, organizing etc. If you do not keep your men productive then you are not doing your job.

9) Do not permit your floormen to use air hoses and then leave the hose laying on the floor. If they do not coil up the hose after they use it and you permit it, it is your fault.

10) Require your floormen to keep the purging buckets empty. If the buckets overflow the supervisor is at fault for not enforcing the rule.

11) Flat trucks at designated presses should remain at those presses. Do not permit your floormen or any employee to remove those trucks.

12) Do not permit your floormen to over top the hoppers so that material spills

on the floor. If they over top hoppers and you permit it, then you are at fault.

13) Require that your floormen check the hoppers and grinders at the very beginning of your shift. If you do not enforce this rule and your hoppers run empty soon after, then you are responsible for the lost production. If you do not enforce this rule and your grinders jam at the beginning of your shift, then you are responsible for the lost time.

14) When a piece of equipment goes down, fill out a maintenance work order and attach it to the equipment. If you have equipment that is down and no one knows why, then it is supervisor's fault.

15) When a floormen clean a grinder, they are to unplug the grinder and lock it out. If you do not enforce this rule and one of your men is injured then you are at fault.

16) Show your men the proper way to clean a granulator. It is not enough just to tell them, you must show them too. If you get contaminated material and you did not enforce this rule then you did not do your job.

17) It is your responsibility to see to it that your men diligently fill out material move tickets. If you get contaminated material and a supervisor did not enforce this rule, then two people did not do their jobs.

18) Your floormen should be required to maintain at least a one hour supply of cartons at every press. If your presses run out of cartons on your shift, both the floorman and supervisor are at fault.

20) Require your operators to keep their work area clean (organized, free of parts or debris on the floor, etc.). If you work at a machine, see a mess and say nothing, then you are more at fault than the operator.

21) You should see to it that no empty cartons, debris, etc. accumulate out of sight behind the presses. You should periodically inspect those areas. If you do not inspect the areas then you are responsible.

22) You must require that the floor people keep the machines clean by company standards. Dirty machines are a result of supervisors dereliction of duty.

23) The supervisors should be responsible for keeping the assembly areas at presses neat and organized. When equipment is changed over it is your duty to see that everything is put away properly.

24) Production areas are to stay neat and well organized. This means parts properly identified, tables and work areas organized with only those items needed for the job, chip board and cartons stacked neatly, area swept, etc. If you are running a job and the area is not as described, then you are not doing your job properly.

25) Separators go in boxes, not on the floor. Scrap goes in a box marked scrap and never in an unidentified carton. This is to prevent contamination.

26) Your die setters must be required keep your molds straight and well organized. If they pull out a skid of molds, they must put the skid back. When they put a mold on a skid, they must place it neatly and squarely on the skid. If your men do not follow this rule then they are not doing their jobs. If you say nothing, then you are not doing your job.

27) When your die setters change a mold, it is your responsibility to be sure the area is set up properly for the next job. This means the material and stock from the old job is put away. This means a new chute installed (if necessary) and the machine clean of parts and debris. This means the grinder cleaned and dryer (if necessary) installed. It also means that all those sundry items for the job are set up and ready to go. If you as a supervisor start up a job without checking the above items or if you start up a job knowing full well that the job is not ready, then you are not doing your job.

28) When your die setters pull a mold, if they are not going to set another tool they should either put all the hoses clamps, etc., in a box at the press or put all of those items in the die setters cabinet or cart. If your men do not follow this procedure and you do not enforce it, then you are not doing what you are paid to do, supervise your people.

29) When your die setters set a mold, they must check the water circulation. If you do not enforce this rule, your jobs may not run correctly and you will hurt your production and quality.

30) When your maintenance department shuts down a machine for repairs, they must lock it out and place a sign on it noting why the machine is down. If you see that this rule is not being followed, either report it to your boss or the Maintenance Department head.

31) You should document training for new employees. Completed training forms should be retained.

32) The job cycle sheets should be left in the cycle book. At no time should cycle sheets be removed from the book and left laying around.

33) When your die setters set or pull a hot runner tool they should put the extra cables back in storage. Bad cables should be tagged describing the problem and a maintenance work order should be turned in to the Maintenance Dept.

34) You should be provided with a lockable cabinet for "Manufacturers Material Data" books. This information should be available every time you run a new material or have questions about a current material.

35) When you purge a molding machine, the purging should go directly into a purging bucket. Purgings should not to go on the presses or on the floor. The only exception is on the very large presses where the purgings will not fit in a bucket. In that case, the purgings could go onto the floor and as soon as cool to touch, placed in the trash can.

36) Anyone working near the nozzle of a molding machine should wear safety gloves! Obviously this is to protect you from burns.

37) Your floormen should use the ladders to fill presses or climb up on a press. In no case should they be permitted to stand on the purge guard or the barrel. If you do not enforce this rule, you are not doing your job.

38) All safety guards on all equipment must be in place at all times. This includes chillers, mold heaters, grinders, molding machines, etc. All guard bolts are also to be in place at all times.

39) Any chemical containers used in the plant must have affixed a "Hazard Material Identification System" label. If an employee is using a chemical without a label, (for example, mold releases, stripper, etc.) then you must affix a label.

40) It is your responsibility to see to it that your employees (and you!) wear safety glasses. You must enforce this rule for the safety of everyone involved.

41) Each shift should be required to complete a daily mold cleaning/maintenance sheet . This is to assure the tools are properly lubed and cleaned.

42) When a job is shut down even if for only a few hours, a last shot should be retained, bagged (when appropriate) and tagged. If the job is to be pulled, the last shot would be given to quality control. If the job is to be restarted, the tagged shot would be left at the press. In the event of a job restart, quality control would be notified and when they OK the restart shots, the tagged shot could then be processed back into production.

43) First shots of newly set jobs should be tagged, bagged (when appropriate) and given to a quality control inspector.

44) Anyone who drives a hi-lo must be licensed. The only exception is an employee who is being trained. In such a case, a licensed hi-lo driver must be with the trainee at all times.

45) There should be no smoking, drinking or eating while driving a hi-lo. Also, if a hi-lo driver gets off the hi-lo even for a moment, the hi-lo must be turned off for safety.

MATERIAL HANDLER (FLOORMEN) GUIDELINES AND RULES

An injection molding plant is a complex organization and the work can be very demanding. A large variety of parts are manufactured with an equally large variety of materials. In any organization it is necessary to establish and follow procedures to ensure proper and efficient operation. The purpose of the following is to outline and identify certain procedures and duties of a material handler.

As a material handler or floorman you have a very responsible position. You handle thousands of dollars worth of material daily. You see to it that the hoppers are filled, the grinders are emptied and all material is properly identified. Moreover, it is your responsibility to move finished stock, make up production cartons and help keep the plant clean and well organized. Customer satisfaction is your company's number one priority. In order to be a world class operation producing quality parts at competitive prices, YOU must remember that quality and pride are involved in every aspect of your work.

Raw material is very expensive. Costs range from about a dollar per pound and up to many dollars. For that reason, it is very important that you pay strict attention to the labels. None of your materials are compatible. This means you cannot mix them. Just because two materials are the same color does not necessarily mean they are the same type. Mixing two different types of materials can cause scrap and far worse, can cause the parts to be substandard. Your company rejects substandard parts. Moreover, some materials can react violently when mixed together in a molding machine. For example, nylon mixed with acetal resins will react and release dangerous gasses. As a material handler it is your duty and responsibility to check the labels on every grinder, hopper, gaylord, bag and every other container.

MATERIAL IDENTIFICATION

There are four categories of material that must be identified:

A) Raw material in bags, gaylords, etc.

B) Raw Material in hoppers.

C) Regrind material.

D) Scrap and runners to be ground.

Every material container should be identified with a label. At a minimum, it should specify the type of material, color, date and perhaps lot number. Every hopper should have this information affixed. Every grinder should be identified. Every box of scrap and/or runners should have identification. The reason for these requirements should be obvious. Unidentified materials cause contamination and contamination causes scrap. It is not enough to simply label everything. You as a material handler must also read the labels! The print on each label should be large enough to be read at a distance. Magic markers work well for this, ink pens do not.

As you probably already know, scrap and runners are ground for reprocessing. Granulators (Grinders) are safe if used properly. The most important rule is "if you are cleaning a grinder you must unplug it and lock out the plug". This is a Federal and State Law. Follow that rule emphatically. Fail to follow that rule and you could lose a hand!!

Every grinder does have a safety interlock switch. When the grinder is tipped back this

switch disconnects the grinder from the "start" power. However, switches do fail. For this reason you must still unplug and lock out grinders when cleaning them out.

To properly clean a grinder you must disconnect the power, tip the grinder back. remove the screen and remove the grinder bin. If the grinder has a retainer, you are to move the grinder off the retainer. Blowout the screen, the grinder and the bin with an air hose. It is absolutely necessary that you remove every particle of material. You must also open the grinder access cover and blow out the throat area with the air hose. Occasionally the screen will lodge with pieces of material. In that situation use a hammer and small screwdriver to force out the material. Make note of the crevices. You must remove every bit of material.

When the grinder is thoroughly cleaned, reassemble and bolt down the access cover and the closure. Plug in the grinder and turn it on. When this is completed take a small handful of runners from the next job to be run and grind them. This will "flush" out any fine particles you may have missed. Be certain to throw this ground material away. When the grinder is cleaned, fill out a material ID form and affix it to the grinder. Be certain to fill out the form completely.

Be aware that grinder blades are often very sharp. The rotor itself has quite a bit of mass and if you are not careful, it is possible to pinch your fingers between the blades. Note also that you never pry against the sharp edge of the blades. To do so could possibly chip them. Instead, place a block of wood between the blade and your pry bar. This will protect the blade, but still give you your needed leverage. The only time it is necessary to pry a blade is if the grinder is jammed.

On some rare occasions, you may discover a grinder running backwards. In such a situation, inform your Supervisor. You are not to attempt to rewire the grinder yourself.

MATERIAL HANDLING PROCEDURE

1) Before you fill a hopper, you are to read the label on the hopper and on the raw material to verify that they are the same and that it is the proper material for the job. The proper material is determined by checking the Quality Control Check Sheet or the Job Set-up Sheet

2) Before you empty a grinder, you are to check the grinder label to verify that the material is the same as the hopper or container to which you are about to transfer.

3) If you are using a bucket to transfer material, only one bucket is to be used to transfer any one type of material. You are not to use the same buckets to transfer different types of material. (Reason: material can stick to the bucket and contaminate the next material).

4) All material is to be kept covered. The only exception is if you are actively transferring material. At all other times all material containers are to be covered.

5) Nothing is to be placed on top of material containers. This is to minimize the possibility of something falling into the container.

6) Bags of material are to be opened by cutting the bag with a knife. They are not to be broken open with a tool or your hand. This is to prevent torn pieces of the bags from contaminating the material.

7) If by necessity, a skid of material contains mixed lot numbers, you are to affix a Mixed Lot Number sign. This is to help alert everyone that you have mixed lot numbers.

8) Material containers (drums. bags. gaylords, etc) are not to be placed directly on the floor. They are to be placed on skids or other suitable platforms. This is to prevent the material from being ruined in the event of a water or oil leak.

9) Material containers are to be located neatly and squarely on the floor. They are not be scattered about in a haphazard manner.

10) Regrind is not be mixed directly into gaylords. Regrind is to be mixed directly in a regrind/virgin or regrind only drum . Regrind ratios should be posted on hoppers and material containers. If you can not find regrind ratios contact the Q.A. Inspector or your supervisor.

BASIC RULES AND GUIDELINES FOR MATERIAL HANDLERS

1) Every man is required to pick up after himself. If you spill it, clean it up. If you drop it, pick it up. If you take it out, put it back.

2) There is to be no material on the safety stairs. This is not only for your safety but for the safety of all concerned.

3) There is to be no spilled material on the floor. Spilled material is to be swept up immediately.

4) Empty material bags are to be placed directly in a trash can. They are not to be left laying on the floor.

5) Only trash cans are to be used for trash. Production cartons, gayords, etc. are not to be used for trash.

6) Trash is to be placed directly in the dumpster or compactor. It is not to be left in shipping/receiving, the plant or next to the dumpster or compactor.

7) Trash spilled next to the dumpster/compactor is to be swept up immediately.

8) In no case are gaylord skids to be left in the shop. They are to be taken out and stacked neatly in the assigned area.

9) Production skids are for production only. Empty cartons. material, etc. are not to be placed on the production skids.

10) If you use and air hose, you are to coil it up and put it back when you are finished.

11) Material I.D. sheets are to be filled out completely and a black magic marker is to be used so it can be read from a distance.

12) Clamps must be installed on both ends of dryer hoses. In no case is a dryer hose to be just "pushed on".

13) Dryers must be set at the proper temperature. If you are unsure, consult the job cycle sheet or see your Supervisor.

14) Regenerative type Desiccant Driers are be connected with an air hose. This compressed air is used to activate the valves inside. If the compressed air is omitted, serious damage could result.

15) Dryer hoses must be in good condition. Damaged hoses are not to be used.

16) Hopper dryers must have either a dryer cone or magnet dryer inside each hopper. In no case is a hopper to be dried without one of these accessories.

17) Every hopper must have a magnet. In no case is a hopper to be used without a magnet.

18) Whenever a drier is connected to a hopper, the delivery and return lines are to be checked for proper installation. (e.g.. delivery hose on cone/magnet, return hose on return intake of the dryer).

19) The "Hi-Limit" setting on Regenerative Desiccant Driers are to be set no higher than 25° F over the drying set-point.

20) If you change the drying set-point on a Desiccant Drier, you are to adjust the "Hi-Limit" control accordingly.

21) Grinders must be checked at least every two hours for emptying. In no case should a grinder be permitted to be filled to the top or over flow.

22) Each grinder is required to have affixed a material I.D. form. In no case is a grinder to be utilized without this form.

23) Never pry directly against the cutting edge of the blades on any grinder. If a grinder Is jammed and you must pry, a block of wood must be placed between the pry bar and the grinder blade.

24) All material must be cleaned from around the screen before an open grinder Is closed. In no case is a shim (such as cardboard) placed between the safety limit switch and the machine body. If the switch will not "make", clean out the screen area.

25) Any floorman who drives a Hi-Io must be licensed. However, an unlicensed man may drive a Hi-Io for training purposes only provided another licensed man is with him at all times.

26) The Hi-los are to be driven in a safe, prudent manner. In no case are two people to ride on the Hi-lo at one time.

27) When a Hi-lo is parked, the forks are to be placed directly on the ground and flat. In no case is a Hi-lo to be parked with the forks above the ground.

28) When materials, cartons, etc. are moved with a Hi-lo, the objects moved are to be placed in a neat manner. You are not to just drop your load at the machine or area.

29) If a stack of cartons is unbanded, the banding is to be discarded immediately. In no case are you to just cut the banding and leave it on the cartons or floor.

30) Process equipment not in use is to be placed the proper storage area. It is not be left laying about the shop or presses.

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