Why working hard matters in a shop....

Quick bash on the guys from up north, seems when shops run low on work, they become farmers and milk everything. The level of constipation has no limits. I actually get stress from them because I speed up when the shop gets low on work. They see me as eating up their (handout) overtime pay.

Truth is I keep getting overtime year after year, while these tards are always at 40 hrs and mad. Keep doing the same thing, keep getting the same results. Seems like a no brainer?

So we are low at work. I'm down to 50 hrs for the first time this year lol.

Here's my philosophy....

ALWAYS hammer time. Period!

Here's why....

A shop gets low on work, like where im at, a hundred or so machinists all wanting overtime. So they slow down. The implications of this are it takes pressure off the salesmen, project engineers, owner, etc... to get more work.

The second problem is everything stops moving. Nobody can do anything because they are waiting on the previous farmer to finish milking the cow.

Those 2 things cause slowdowns in work long and short term. Nothing gets people excited to get work more than clean empty machines with hustling people at them.

Now not only are the work-getters not being pressured to get more, its starts to go backwards, as everything moves thru the shop at intestine speed, they start to have a different mental picture of how much work flow the shop can hold. They start to see the shop as smaller, and feel hesitant to take on big projects, etc...

It gets worse...

In going slow, we are actually training ourselves to suck, and go slow. This has real unforseen consiquences with long term effects.

Work is relative, some work is hard, some easy, some complicated, some not so much. Some expensive some cheap. You want the best paying work obviously. But sometimes just choosing the best work is not an option when feeding a hundred mouths. You take what you can get.... So if you suck...you lose a lot. But.... If your on top of your game, you can turn those loser jobs into winners lots of times, especially if your slow, using multiple machines, etc...

So here it comes.... If your good and efficient, there is no hesitation from the powers of be to take on work. The flood gates open literally.

Heres my advice, If you want more overtime, crank it up. If you want more hours, get better and faster, more efficient, etc... Keep all your machines running whenever you can. If you have no work but just 3 pieces to do, and you have 3 empty machines...load a part in each machine. Stay fast at that, stay on top of your game. EVERYTHING is hot! The next guy needs that block! Get r done, keep is clean, tweaked, warmed up, and trust me, the work will roll your way. ( maybe even a raise).

Now if this fails....quit. Never work in a shop that can't get work. Just like a farmer will never work in a desert..

Unfortunitely I had to quit my last job for this reason. But thats why we have roll arounds, because we are gypsies, we go where the work is.

If you have apprentices in your shop, think about passing this on to them.

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vinny
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"vinny" on Fri, 20 Dec 2013 05:27:25 -0500 typed in alt.machines.cnc the following:

Guy I knew, had a look round and 'apprenticed' himself to the shop's other 'old' guy (the first one was about to retire). Read the manuals, asked the questions "kept both ears open and his big mouth shut." - and years later was the Old Fart who got all the calls, all the OT, all the "cool projects". E.G., Got called to down tools, drive two hours to reset the alarms and verify that everything was as it was suppose to be, then drive back - on the clock. When he first broached the idea of retiring, his boss said "What would it take to get you to stay on longer." That was when I learned that inboard motors run in the area of five grand. He also offered to take anyone on and teach them what he knew, but nobody wanted to do the work. They just wanted the OT and the "cool" projects.

My heart bleeds chunky peanut butter.

-- pyotr filipivich "With Age comes Wisdom. Although more often, Age travels alone."

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pyotr filipivich

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