, , ,

Machinists Are Not The Problem

cnc machinistsWhen working production on a manufacturing shop floor, productivity issues happen. Nothing is perfect – this includes your employees and equipment.

Some leaders may automatically assume that machinists are to blame for productivity decreases. They think they are not doing their job since they are directly handling the machines.

Before we jump to this conclusion, we need to ask if we are being fair. Especially to skilled workers who are the backbone of the manufacturing industry.

According to a study shared by Harvard Business Review, “when leaders are fair to the members of their team, the team members display more citizenship behavior and are more productive, both individually and as a team.”

With this in mind, here are three productivity problems and the tools you can use to combat each of them. Read on for more! 

Parts and Programs

Problem 1: The operator is scrapping too many parts, or behind on the job.

Problem 2: Most shops are also still loading from portable media like floppy disks or portable media.

Answers for Problems 1 and 2: DNC Software can handle programs for thousands of machines and can help end CNC communication failures. Eliminate manual input of programs. Rest assured that Windows-based CNCs can connect to DNC software via a secure Ethernet connection, and that program transfers are encrypted, with Secure DNC.

Downtime

Problem 3: The machines are always down, so the machinists must be using them in an unfit manner.

Answer for Problem 3: Machine monitoring will help track machine trends to help improve OEE and productivity. It will help so that everyone on and off the shop floor has easy-to-understand data on machine behavior. Know when to do maintenance, when there are tooling issues, or when materials are needed. This data can also be turned into actionable items through data-driven decision making.

Late jobs

Problem 4: Jobs are not on time, which creates unsatisfied customers, so the machinists are causing me to lose business and profitability.

Answer for Problem 4: The first solution is to adopt graphical job scheduling into your routine. The second solution is to look into Production Data Management (PDM) for your shop floor. This will help you go paperless, control revision and achieve compliance so you don’t have to worry about an audit.

As you can see by these problems we highlighted, there is a solution for each. You not only have data to make you feel better about employees, but you will also be showing that you are a fair leader to your workforce.

Have other shop floor issues that need solving? Feel free to ask us!

Call for more info at (877) 611-5825 or fill out a contact form

Source in article: https://hbr.org/2014/11/the-hard-data-on-being-a-nice-boss