Why?

[robertc1024]

Why in the heck do people at my work, work with broken tools without telling anyone? All they are doing is slowing down their productivity. Job security? I went out today to the shop floor and found 4 out of 5 identical test stands with non-functioning equipment in them. I've written about 100 programs to aid production processes and nobody ever tells me when there is a bug - unless I'm looking over their shoulder - then they say something like "It's been like that for a long time." How in the hell am I supposed to fix it if I don't know about it? grrrrr.

 

[KBMiii]

I guess they like to work harder instead of smarter. I hope your day gets better.

Ken


Stay frosty!

 

[itchin]

Man that building is going up fast! I was hoping to quote out the package units
I'm thinking it was spec'd out with another brand.

 

[Sapper740]

Bonuses for productivity, unless you're a Union shop, help a lot as does recognition. Does your company recognize excellence or simply pays lip service to it?

 

[jrbfishn]

Sheeple? I know at Wally World theh consider "think" a 4 letter word

from an idgit coffeeholic

 

[Vaquero]

Why in the heck do people at my work, work with broken tools without telling anyone? All they are doing is slowing down their productivity. Job security? I went out today to the shop floor and found 4 out of 5 identical test stands with non-functioning equipment in them. I've written about 100 programs to aid production processes and nobody ever tells me when there is a bug - unless I'm looking over their shoulder - then they say something like "It's been like that for a long time." How in the hell am I supposed to fix it if I don't know about it? grrrrr.

Most people are afraid to admit they don't know enough about it to know if it's broke or not.
If an engineer hands it to them and says it's functional, they do the best thay can and won't question. (Engineers are never wrong, lol!)
Many times, I've suggested a "new" logic to program in only to be told, "it already does that, you just have to initiate so and so and it's automatic". Well, why didn't they tell me?

 

[robertc1024]

Man that building is going up fast! I was hoping to quote out the package units
I'm thinking it was spec'd out with another brand.

A crane lifted all the units on top of the building a few weeks ago. To be honest, I have no idea how they bid those out. I was hoping you'd get a shot at it too.

Does your company recognize excellence or simply pays lip service to it?

Does a pat on the back and an occasional $25 gift card count? I would say that excellence tends to lead to promotions - which in the past has unfortunately ended in too many cases of peter principle.

 

[breakingcontact]

Can blame the workers for doing what they do or question and reform workflow and error reporting procedures.

 

[robertc1024]

Can blame the workers for doing what they do or question and reform workflow and error reporting procedures.

True - I already had a meeting with our lean manufacturing guy to add an "Is anything broken in your department?" question to each department's monthly audit. I still blame the workers to a large extent - too much apathy. We're a small company. Most of the people in production have been there 10+ years. They know who to escalate problems to.

 

[breakingcontact]

True - I already had a meeting with our lean manufacturing guy to add an "Is anything broken in your department?" question to each department's monthly audit. I still blame the workers to a large extent - too much apathy. We're a small company. Most of the people in production have been there 10+ years. They know who to escalate problems to.

Very interesting problem. Its psychological really. What motivates a worker to kick a problem up the chain?

Got to know the process. Got to believe the problem will actually be resolved. Got to see how solving it benefits himself. Got to have a stake or contribution to solving the problem.

Most but not all workers actually want to do a good job. Most want to contribute to the success of the business. Just have to have the right system in place, right flow, right management, right motivators and so on.

Im sure you know all of this but I think about it a lot. You have some benefits there in low turnover I imagine plus its not a huge company so its easier to make changes.

The behemoth I work for is completely unreal (or at least my division) so im learning a lot about how to do things wrong.

 

[AcidFlashGordon]

Most people are afraid to admit they don't know enough about it to know if it's broke or not.
If an engineer hands it to them and says it's functional, they do the best thay can and won't question. (Engineers are never wrong, lol!)
Many times, I've suggested a "new" logic to program in only to be told, "it already does that, you just have to initiate so and so and it's automatic". Well, why didn't they tell me?

There are also those people who don't want to be responsible for reporting/noting some expensive replacement cost. Just like a previous job I had where the test set had a $1,600 pulse transformer ... generated a pulse when a certain voltage was reached. The problem ... the transformer had a 9 month turn-around time to make because the company had to retool to make it. People were jury-rigging the voltage input. I ended up being the one reporting it and then a lot of questions were asked as to who FIRST had the problem. A lot of people got their asses chewed out for not immediately reporting this malfunction of a critical test set.

 

[Sapper740]

There are also those people who don't want to be responsible for reporting/noting some expensive replacement cost. Just like a previous job I had where the test set had a $1,600 pulse transformer ... generated a pulse when a certain voltage was reached. The problem ... the transformer had a 9 month turn-around time to make because the company had to retool to make it. People were jury-rigging the voltage input. I ended up being the one reporting it and then a lot of questions were asked as to who FIRST had the problem. A lot of people got their asses chewed out for not immediately reporting this malfunction of a critical test set.

Too true. People don't want to be the bearers of bad news to the higher-ups. Case-in-point: I used to marvel at how afraid my fellow superintendents were to tell the representatives of the Prime Contractors that they were going to miss a deadline, even though it was inevitable. During the DFW Capitol Development Plan where Terminal D and the Automated People Mover were built I would sit in on the weekly meetings with about 50 other sub-contractor superintendents. During the meetings every one of us would be asked if there were any deadlines that were going to be missed and why. No one but I would state the truth...that a certain area would not be ready by such and such date. Representatives of the Prime Contractors actually attempted to get me fired. I'll never forget the first meeting where deadlines had been missed and ass-chewings were being freely handed-out to everyone for not making the deadline which they had said would be reached. They went around the room ripping everyone a new one in turn until they came to me...they stopped and said, "Oh yeah, you never said you would make this deadline. Never mind." and continued on.

 

[Reaper277]

At least they have tools to work with.
Everytime I go to our shop for a tool it's gone. And of course everyone hasn't seen it and didn't know it was missing.