Recently in Plastics Training Category

Regardless of the country or region in which you live, it is critical that you promote safe working standards for your employees. I understand that different cultures take varying positions on worker safety, but some situations are just unsafe no matter where you live.

-Andy

The best way to approach your employee training is as follows... If you believe that certain knowledge or skill is critical to the success of a particular job description, then all employees at that level should take that training. On the production floor, employee training should always be divided by job description, not personnel.

This is the best way to ensure consistency in both the training of the employees as well as the support of newly trained employees by those above them. This situation will create more conformity, better communication, and increased loyalty throughout the workforce.

In my experience, breaking up the training on an individual basis always creates division and resentment. In most cases, people who get excluded from a particular training initiative often ask to be included or complain about being left out.

-Andy

When discussing employee training, it is critical to focus on how it will affect the employees. For example, if operators are not involved in the training initiative during the first couple months, let them know when they will be trained, and who will be taking the training first.

Explain a few of he specifics such as, how many hours a week or month they will train, the types of information they will learn, how the training will benefit the company as well as how it will benefit the employee.

With any initiative, employees will look to management for honesty and their commitment to maintaining the program. Keep the program transparent and track the progress visibly so everyone can see the program actually being used.

Many companies start a new program and then let it fall by the side when it looses visibility. Always update the employees on the progress of any company initiative.

Don't be afraid to make this process fun. Banners, luncheons, gifts, and announcements are great ways to inform your employees.

-Andy

In general, once a material is contaminated with a hard material such as sand, it will become highly abrasive to the grinder, screw, barrel, hot runner, and mold. To regrind that much material in such a state will most likely cause significant damage, requiring repairs and possible replacement of many components. Likewise, such an abrasive material would damage the screw and most likely require a new check ring after re-processing.

If the reground material is sold or any products are sold molded with this material without the customer's approval such an act would be unethical and most likely illegal.

Since many of the costs associated with regrinding this material depend on the material, grinder, region, as well as repair costs, it is impossible to estimate with any degree of accuracy.

This is one of the reasons it is critical to teach your employees the importance of proper handling of materials, parts, and regrind to ensure that contamination does not occur.

-Andy

Although there are many regulations, and interpretations, most manufacturers and regulatory groups can agree that safety glasses should be worn under the following machine conditions...

1) Whenever a safety gate is opened, it is considered violated, and eye protection is required. This includes mold or die changes, machine maintenance, mold or die cleaning, clearing a stuck part, and semi-automatic operation.

2) Whenever polymer is purged from the barrel, high pressures and temperatures are being released. Both eye and face protection should be used in the form of a face shield.

-Andy

There is much information available online, but there are a few things that you can also investigate in-house and with your supplier.

1. Any additive will change the melting characteristics of the polymer. You should always perform a tact temperature study as well as check and document the temperature of your melt with each polymer/additive combination. Some additives may cause the polymer to stick to the screw rather than the barrel, requiring an unnecessarily high screw speed to recover the shot. Adversely, one colorant may cause the polymer to melt very smoothly, resulting in a lower melt temperature. To better explain this, one of my customers (who processes only one base resin) showed me a screw with different colored stains along the transition zone. Each stain indicates the melting characteristic of that material/colorant combination. Some colors caused softening near the feed zone, while others softened closer to the metering zone with a rainbow of colors in between.

2. In additional to documenting the process outputs such as fill weight, peak pressure at fill, back pressure, etc. you should also consider taking a picture of the short so that you can visually match the appearance of the colored first stage short shots to the natural first stage short shot. Although most additives act as plasticizers, some additives will actually increase the viscosity of the polymer melt... especially if it reduces the melt temperature. This consequence can be improved by optimizing the screw recovery for each formulation you use.

3. Contact your material supplier and request any Technical Service Bulletins regarding acetals and/or the colorants you use. Also request drying specifications and annealing suggestions. In many cases, materials like acetals will provide more consistent dimensions when annealed.

In semi-crystalline polymers, such as nylon, colorants and additives can also affect semi-crystalline site nucleation and growth. 

For, more information about tact temperature studies, please read: Optimizing Screw Recovery...

For free multimedia presentations on process documentation, scientific molding, and in-mold rheology, please visit:  http://www.traininteractive.com/free/webinar/player/

-Andy

Definitely, the more quality knows about production, the better off you are. They usually don't need to know all the technical information... but an increase in knowledge will always improve overall communication.

You should include your production employees in the education effort so that they have some responsibility in teaching your quality employees about what they do.

Keep in mind, this is not a one-way street. Cross-training your production employees about quality is an equally critical step.

-Andy

This article highlights a common pitfall in employee training. Most companies don't approach training with the intent of making concrete improvements... and as a result, they don't structure the training to accomplish these concrete goals.

I recommend you consider reading Jill's' article When It Comes to Training, Don't Hope for the Best as well as Selecting Your Training Metrics to learn more about the importance of monitoring training metrics.

In group settings, there are typically a couple people who follow along with the discussion, while others often struggle to keep up. If the ones who are struggling are uncomfortable in speaking up, then the entire effort suffers.

Additionally, factors such as the company, management, or even culture can make it difficult for a participant to feel comfortable speak up. Overall, most employees prefer to learn at their own pace.

When we establish training programs, we prefer structured self-paced training with focused one-on-one instruction which ensures that the employee learns. In such a setting, the employee does not feel any of the pressures that exist in a group format. This approach has proven successful in virtually all companies and cultures.

For a related discussion, please review this previous entry: Relying on On-The-Job Training Alone

-Andy

Your co-worker is correct. Voids are sections in the center of a part where material shrinks away from itself and leaves what appears like a small hole within the part.

Although they often appear to be air bubbles, they are actually vacuums within the part where no gas is present. An increase in packing or holding pressure usually corrects this.

Keep in mind, gas entrapment can often be confused with the presence of voids.

-Andy

When tracking the improvements of training, what should I monitor?

I will answer this is a few parts...

1) Choose from the data that is already available - Do not create new metrics to monitor... if it was important to the management, someone would already be monitoring the parameters.

2) Select 3-4 parameters - Choose a few important parameters... monitoring too many parameters will become overwhelming.

3) Gather data form the last 6-12 months - Without a good baseline for comparison... you will not know how much things have improved.

Don't be afraid to share the credit with other initiatives. In many cases, another improvement initiative will take place while the training is going on. For example, the die setters and technicians could be implementing 5S at the same time you are training them on processing. In such a case, the reduction in downtime and changeover time will most likely be a cumulative result from both initiatives... especially when the initiative is integrated into the training through tasks and customization.

-Andy

There are always exceptions to the rule, but it is more important to teach your employees the fundamentals first... and then explain the exceptions that might apply to your application.

When you handle the teaching of an exception, it is most important that you explain why this exception occurs. 

In most cases, an exception occurs as a result of factors such as a shortcoming in the mold or part design or possibly a need to overcome a deficiency in the processing equipment.

-Andy

We are waiting until things pick up before we start employee training.

Believe it or not, slow times are the optimal time to start your employee training initiative. These are great opportunities to get your current employees up to speed, and prepare them for the next increase in production.

This is especially true if you hire temporary employees since you will rely heavily on your current employees to being new and temporary hires up to speed when things get busy.

-Andy

I often encounter this question when upper management does not put a priority on employee training. Many managers will state that employee training is important to them... but often neglect to set aside resources such as time, materials, or manpower to make it happen.

For example, many companies try to use their conference room for training. Unfortunately, such rooms are often so busy, that there is never time to schedule employee training. Often training will get cancelled whenever someone in management wants to hold a meeting. As a result, the employees get the impression that training is not important, and therefore will not make the time.

Basically, employee training needs to become a permanent fixture in your company. You may train a couple hours a week, or a few hours a month... but it needs to be maintained and supported by management. In the example mentioned above, if a manager wanted to interrupt training to use a conference room, he or she should offer the use of their own office to help ensure that the training takes place... this would demonstrate that employee development is important and must be maintained.

As with all initiatives, training needs to be both supported and encouraged by the upper management.

-Andy

Training plays an important role in the success of any molding facility, and provides benefits to both the employee and employer. It is important that personnel at all levels participate in a structured in-house training program. Such employees increase their knowledge base and learn applicable skills to enhance their performance in a production environment.

Training also helps the employer satisfy their customers - and ensures future customers that they’ll be able to handle new challenges. Such training is essential to performing your job correctly. In addition, training can help achieve your professional and financial goals by providing job advancement opportunities.

Don't be afraid to be frank, especially with new hires... Any employee who is unwilling to learn and improve should be concerned about their longevity at your company.

-Andy

We deal with technical issues within the plastics industry all the time. Although we openly advertise our expertise in creating employee development systems... we routinely visit companies around the globe to provide technical consultation for plastics, processing, and training.

In general, this question can be handled using four common approaches...

1) If you have a unique issue such as troubleshooting, equipment evaluation, or beginning a new program... a consultant is often the best way to resolve the situation. Many companies hire an engineer to help handle a specific situation... and then under use their talents performing routine tasks once the situation is resolved.

2) If you want to create a long term change in behavior such as 5S or process documentation... a consultant can often help you determine the best approach to determining the best behavior, educating your employees, and maintaining the behavior. Once this is established, it will be very easy to determine whether your current employees can implement the strategy... or if additional staff is necessary to ensure the success of the initiative.

3) If there are only one or two routine tasks which take place monthly or quarterly such as a tool design review or a molding trial... having a consultant on retainer may save you money in the long term.

4) If you have an established routine or series of complex tasks which need to be performed, hiring an engineer or technician is most likely the best course of action.

Always try to hire employees and consultants with the intention of exploiting their talents... for example, hiring a consultant to measure and weight a large number of parts may not be cost effective... but hiring a consultant arrange outside testing, or to evaluate the results and help draw conclusions may be very helpful. Adversely, when our consultants help a company develop a strategy for training their employees, their engineers, managers, and supervisors are often the best people to implement and carry out this training with their employees.

-Andy

I can't bother to train my staff... they learn what they need to know on-the-job.

Basically... Torque is a measure of rotational force. In other words, the force being applied to rotate something is considered torque.

The way torque is calculated is by multiplying the force being applied times the distance it is being applied. This is typically represented as Newton-meters (N-m) in the Metric system or foot-pounds (ft-lb) for Imperial measurements.

For a more detailed definition of torque, please feel free to visit wikipedia:

Technicians and mechanics often use torque wrenches to measure the rotational force being applied to a screw when they are being tightened. This helps prevent the platen threads from becoming stripped or damaged.

For a more in-depth discussion on this topic, please visit my previous blog:

-Andy

Believe it or not, this is actually a very common situation. The best way to improve this is to have the tooling personnel help cross-train your employees. This makes them partially responsible for the technicians knowledge  of tooling. This gives them a vested interest in helping the technicians rather than insulting them.

A great opportunity to do this would be during mold maintenance. If you have the technicians assist in the mold breakdown or re-assembly the tooling person can explain the name and purpose of each component during the process.

Much of this comes from the defensiveness on the moldmakers part since they seldom have a good knowledge of processing. So... don't forget to reverse the process and have the technicians teach your tooling personnel about processing.

-Andy

Ultimately, we recommend that you train your employees using a blended learning model which uses the best of a variety of training methods combined in a comprehensive training plan.

Aspects such as interactive training, focused on-the-job exercises, and training for specific skills are some of the best components to be included.

Ultimately, you should determine what specific skills are important… and devise training strategies to address those competencies.

Adults learn in many different ways. You should mix it up and always have a little fun during this process.

-Andy

You should try to get everyone on the production floor involved in your training initiative.

Aside from processing, quality, and tooling... you may also want to include other departments such as sales or engineering.

I often like to relay a story about one company who nearly had a mutiny by the design engineering department because they were excluded from the advanced process training.

Basically, don’t be afraid to ask around… we have many companies who thought people wanted to be excluded; only to find out everyone was hoping to take some of the training.

We always recommend you give your employees access to training. We figure the worst thing that can happen is they could learn something... which is really not a bad thing.

-Andy

None of the training out there applies to what my plant is doing.

I first asked him if his extruder had a barrel and screw... He said yes. I then asked about the barrel heaters, cooling fans, and temperature controllers... He again agreed.

He also agreed his extruder has an adapter, die, screw motor, reduced, feed throat, and so on. Then he explained that they used unique downstream equipment on their standard extruder. 

I explained that half of their process is the extruder and the second half is the downstream, in which much training is available. Lastly, I asked if his employees could improve their knowledge and abilities such as in math, quality, and problem solving... He again agreed.

The purpose here was not to sell training... but to get people to think about training materials as components of the overall training solution.

-Andy

In most respects, electric molding machines are much safer. There are no pressurized fluids, less noise, and fewer sources of potential energy.

The big difference will be in the safety switches... the machine is likely to have more electrical safety interlocks on both the front and back gates.

You should be able to incorporate this into your general safety training program.

Since the electric molding machine components only make noise when they are in motion, the machine can seem 'off' when it is actually running.

You can easily incorporate this concern into your in-house safety training program as well.

-Andy

Unless your plant has reached all of its profits-based goals, every employee on the payroll can improve some aspect of their job function, be more efficient, or expand their capabilities.

Some companies use a strategy where every employee has to be either trained or training to advance. This is aggressive... but such companies are best poised to handle expansion... or downsizing. 

There are always opportunities for your employees to learn... and for them to learn from each other.

I have been to companies with advancement policies which require each employee to be actively training someone else to to their job function. Failure to do so can result in them being disciplined or even fired.

-Andy

First, OJT is the most direct method of instruction, but it is not a good training tool. Scheduling is dependant on both the trainer and trainee... requiring equal time spent by each. Ultimately, this training by itself will teach the minimum behaviors necessary to perform their job function.

You should consider using a blended learning model which minimizes and focuses the on-the-job training as a component of an entire employee development initiative.

I know it seems as though I side-stepped the question... but I really believe Frank could not get all his goals accomplished, regardless of how he approached scheduling.

-Andy

Although CNC lathes are typically used to machine threads in typical machining situations... they are not commonly used for machining threads on injection molds. This is especially true for applications, such as yours, where specific thread positions are required.

The most common method of machining such threads is CNC Electric discharge machining (EDM). In such a machining method, a conductive electrode with inverted detail is manufactured using CNC machining processes. This electrode is then placed into the EDM machine and the detail is removed, or burned, from the tool steel using an electric spark between the electrode and the workpiece.

For more information into the EDM manufacturing process... please visit wikipedia:

If you have access to a 4 axis CNC EDM machine, you can create even better threads by rotating the electrode about the core as it moves up or down. This may create more accurate thread detail on the core.

For training on this topic, consider our Mold Design and Mold Making Series.

Mold makers have also used 5-axis CNC machining stations to create this type of detail... but the setup and expense of using such equipment for such a small task is generally not justified.

-Andy

Our 'Plastics Training and Technology Blog' has been active for less than 6 months... yet, we have had thousands of readers and more than a hundred contributions in both questions and comments.

George, your techs are pulling your leg just to defend their laziness... though many injection molding plants do not emphasize cleanliness and organization.

Good housekeeping will reduce the time it requires to find things and get things accomplished. A systematic and organized workplace is a safer workplace which is much safer, more productive, more efficient, and more profitable working environment.

This is true across the board, whether you are molding containers, heart valves, lawn chairs, or pipe fillings.

Ultimately, the efficiency of an injection molding plant is highly dependent on its cleanliness and organization.

You should approach cleanliness through plant-wide initiatives, employee training, and by personal example.

-Andy

Fine tuning a process with advanced tools such as In-Mold Rheology studies are great practices. But, to effectively use these tools, you must first understand fundamental concepts such as: velocity-controlled injection, shear thinning, plastic pressure at transfer, melt temperature, and so on.

As mentioned in previous entries, training has to be an ongoing process. Consultants can be a helpful tool in understanding and teaching the fine points of your processes... but you need to ensure your employees have a firm grasp of the fundamentals to really benefit.

-Andy

What is the proper rule for safety glasses? Some say they are not always needed, others say they should be work at all times, what is your opinion?

Before I relate my opinion, I first want to bring up three important factors...

1) Virtually all machine and equipment manufacturers suggest that eye protection be worn at all times.

2) Virtually all safety regulatory groups recommend of require safety glasses to be worn at all times on the production floor.

3) Virtually all safety training recommends safety glasses to be worn around any piece of production equipment.

First... anyone violating a safety guard, servicing a machine, purging, grinding, or opening the safety gates for any reason must wear safety glasses.

Second... I strongly feel that anyone on the production floor should be wearing safety glasses.

Third... I also feel that the tool room, maintenance area, quality lab, and warehouse should also be included. 

In all stages of my professional development, I have been taught the importance of personal protection equipment and specifically... eye protection.

I have personally seen safety hazards such as fragments and fluids travel hundreds of feet across the production floor... all being serious hazards to everyone on the production floor.

As always, I am interested in hearing your opinion on this matter.

-Andy

In this IndustryWeek article, the author cites a new study released by Deloitte, The Manufacturing Institute and Oracle to explain that top manufacturers are still investing in their workforce... regardless of the financial times.

You can listen to it here:

In this article, she discusses how companies such as Molded Rubber & Plastics Corp. in Butler, WI improve their workforce through employee training at all levels from management to operator. In this article, Mike Dalton, director of quality for MRPC states “Basically, we’re only as good as our worst operator, so we carefully screen employees prior to hiring and then screen them during a 60-day training and orientation period.”

In this article, I discussed the right way for a company to train. “If they do the training the wrong way, it’s a disaster,” he says, noting that some companies give the training responsibility to the “lowest guy on the totem pole. Training has to be from the top down.”

Ultimately, the companies that succeed in both the upswings and downturns are those who have an in-house employee advancement system in-place to ensure your workforce is capable and flexible to handle the future. One, two, and three week seminars can help introduce new technologies to your employees, but real change occurs when learning is continuous, ongoing, and relevant to what your company does.

To read this article, visit:

-Andy

Classroom training is not the most effective method available for training your production employees. Some seminars provide 4-8 hours of training a day... which is far too much information to absorb in one week...never mind in one day!

Lengthy classroom training sessions tends to be very disruptive to the production environment. Sending employees out for training can often cost 1-2 times more than the training itself. Likewise, sending a consultant to your plant for on-site training classroom training can be both costly and distracting to your employees. In either case, you still have the underlying issue where the employees do not learn well in the classroom environment.

As an adjunct professor at the Plastics Engineering Department of the University of Massachusetts Lowell, I have successfully blended labs, interactive training, simulation software, product testing, new technology, and outside exercises. Since these classes are comprised of plastics professionals, this helps ensure my participants actually learn the information and understand how it applies to their role as production employees. At Routsis Associates, I have also used this approach successfully in distance learning situations using a variety of media such as interactive training, on-the-job exercises, testing, and short 1-hour training sessions.

As I blogged previously, ask yourself... 'What Do You Hope To Achieve Through Training?'. To paraphrase... training should be purchased to help meet and sustain specific employee development and competency goals. Keeping this in mind will help you evaluate whether a training method develop competent employees, or just give them a bunch of information.

-Andy

I very often hear people justify not training their employees with the age old argument 'If I Train My Employees... They Might Leave.' One of the funniest responses to this I have heard is from Zig Ziglar who says 'If you don't train your employees... they might stay!'.

All humor aside, ignorance is never a good employee retention policy. For example, one company we worked with had a 75% turnover. This meant that 3 out of every 4 employees leave each year. When we discussed employee trianing, it turns out that they never train, nor do they promote from within. They went silent when we asked them... 'So, am I correct to understand that everyone at your company is in a dead-end job'.

Unless your company has a true culture of learning and advancement, sending only one or two people to specialized training provides them credentials not applicable to your production environment. For example, '5S' training provides great information... but sending one employee out for a couple days of training will not transform the attitude and actions of your entire workforce.

Ask yourself two questions... (1) do you have enough 'key' people on your production floor...? and (2) are any of your production employees in 'dead end jobs'...?

The goal here is not to sell...  but to help people understand that you need a plant-wide focus on improving the skills of the entire workforce so ultimately, everyone shares the load.

-Andy

A contributor at engineering.com posted an optimistic blog entry entitled ‘Time to Learn; Time to Save’. This entry addresses employment and professional development during recessionary times.

Corporal Willy (excerpt) 

The entire entry can be read here:

-Andy

During the NPE 2009 trade show, an attendee asked me an insightfull question...

I answered, if you’re serious about improving the skills of your production workforce, you need to begin by asking yourself a few questions:

1. What training methods have you used in the past? Were any of these methods effective? Which metrics did you use to measure their effectiveness?

2. What about now...how much time do you devote to training? Which training methods are you currently using and are they working?

3. More importantly, what effect has the current training plan had on your bottom line?

4. Lastly, what are your training goals? What do you hope to achieve by training your workforce? 

Training needs to take place regularly, and time needs to be allocated for this purpose. Proper training requires resources, so it is essential to have the support of management when establishing a training system for your workplace. Make sure that management, as a whole, understands the scope of the training plan - and which metrics can be used to verify its effectiveness.

In the end, training should be purchased to help meet your company's specific employee development goals. 

-Andy

These can be viewed here:

After viewing these yourself, I recommend you use it as a teaching tool to introduce some of your employees to these great technologies.

Also, feel free to forward the link to anyone who might be interested.

-Andy

I have just released an audiobook on professional employee development entitled 'The Science of Training'.

You can listen to it here:

You can also download it here:

Just to give you a taste of what is covered... Below is a short transcription from the middle of this executive audio CD:

As always, feel free to give me your feedback and comments.

-Andy

Over the years, I have seen a significant decrease in production workers at trade shows such as the most recent NPE. For those who may never think to send their employees to trade shows, I would like to provide a few resons why it can be helpful to you.

Most employees think of themselves as just an employee at a company that makes cases, bottles, buckets, cases, bags, pellets, etc. As a result, they approach their job with the zeal of a clerk. Sadly, most people working in the plastics industy never realize there is a plastics industry!!!

Although employees may not learn skills that will directly relate to their job, they will realize that they are a part of a much larger industry. Giving a person the opportunity to meet representatives from material, machine, and equipment suppliers...  provides a great appreciation of the plastics industry.

This is not the time to wine and dine your employees with excess. The atmosphere can be fun and friendly, but it should also remain professional. Always delegate some responsibility to your employees... It keeps their focus and may give you a whole new perspective.

Let's suppose you are evaluating a few different machines for purchase... You may ask your technicians to evaluate the controls while you concentrate on the specifications and costs. In your review, one brand of machine may have the best cost and specifications, but your technicians find the machine controls confusing, thus anticipating push-back from their fellow employees. With their feedback, you may choose a machine with similar benefits, but with the added benefit of your technicians returning to the plant with rave reviews... resulting in a sense of excitement and anticipation for the new machine. This small insight such as this can easily return the investment of the trip.

Ultimately, such activities foster a sense of appreciation and good will for your company. If you open your employees' eyes to the plastics industry and give them a participatory role, they will be grateful for the opportunity.

-Andy

In this book, there is a great amount of relevant information but I wanted to mention the twelfth element - which is to provide 'Opportunities to Learn and Grow'. As you know... people resist change. In this book, the authors make the argument that they feel that monotony is even worse than change - talk about a catch-22!

I bring this up because, any manager needs to create an atmosphere where their employees can learn and grow. Don't just give your employees educational opportunities, but also familiarize them with the jobs of others and those around them.

In actuality, if you treat your employees professionally... they will act professionally. Adversely, if you treat your employees like mindless drones... you will not get the best out of your workforce. Always keep this in mind when you move forward with your workforce development initiatives.

-Andy

I said they are good, but lack the effectiveness of long-term training initiatives due to human nature. Unfortunately, it takes at least three weeks of training and reinforcement to dramatically change a person's behavior.

What it comes down to is the fact that humans are creatures of habit. You drive to work using the same route, have a cup of coffee or tea, check your e-mails, update your schedule, etcetera. If this sounds like you... then you are also a creature of habit. The point is, behaviors are hard to change. Some mornings you have a meeting at a different time, or have to drive a different way to work, but you tend to go back to your habits.

Don't get me wrong... classroom training sessions are great, but they have their place. Such training is best when used to expose employees to new ideas and concepts. They also make a great motivator, especially if your workforce has become complacent and needs a 'pick-me-up'. To get the most out of such a situation, classroom training should be backed up by in-house training, focused on-the-job exercises, and skill development.

-Andy

Ron has some great points on how critical it is to create a cue of knowledgeable and capable employees in your workforce. Once you train your employees to where you wish them to be... you should then make advancement training available. Your intent is to create a cue of people waiting to advance professionally. You encourage this in many ways. For example, the first person trained for the job can be eligible for the promotion. They can also fill in when someone is sick or goes on vacation. This reduces much of the stress in the workplace.

Many forward-thinking companies are adopting a policy that each employee should have someone learning to perform their job, as well as be training themselves for another job. Their performance reviews are partially based on both their progress as well as the progress of their protégé.

-Andy

Please feel free to comment with other books you feel apply.

A plant manager recently approached me with an issue...

The plant was losing between $20,000 and $50,000 a month in mold damage during mold changes. It turns out, they had changed plant managers a few times in the past two years. As a result, no one really cared since accountability went out the window with each change and new managers came in with a clean slate.

I shared a couple of success stories from the past with him about upper management teaching critical job functions. Your employees are impressed when the plant manager, president, or owner is willing to roll up their sleeves and show someone how to do the job right. In such a role, these managers act as professional mentors to your employees.

In this case, I told the plant manager to learn the proper way to change a mold, and then teach, step-by-step, the most effective way to change a mold at their facility. Also have the employee change a mold side-by-side with the plant manager. Once this has been done, the plant manager can offer to repeat this instruction if any issues occur... but ultimately, the employee is now inherently responsible to the plant manager for doing the job right.

Remember, employees always look up to a mentor... and plant managers often make great mentors.

-Andy