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Training-How to Avoid a Disaster by Charles A. Grubbs Charlie Grubbs Consulting, Lakeland, Flu.; E-mail: [email protected]
H ave you ever wondered why a person would build an expensive anodizing facility, com- plete with costly rectifiers, chillers, and even
WILL TRAINING REALLY HELP?
high-priced chemicals and dye tanks...and then turn an untrained person or persons loose to run the line? Beats me!
How about the person that moves a worker from an area of the plant that has nothing to do with anodizing and puts him to work on the anodizing line! Because he has been working for the company for X number of years, he must be qualified to take over the functions of the anodize line. Wrong!
What is more interesting is the fact that this same person is shocked and dismayed when his profits are minimal or nonexistent and his reject rate is scary. Wonder how that happened?
Unfortunately, this is more of a reality than one would expect. Some anodizers take advantage of unskilled help and then can’t understand why this help is unable to determine what the problem is when something goes wrong.
RESPONSIBILITY Whose job is it to see that the personnel are trained? Who will profit most from well-trained personnel, capable of not only producing an acceptable product, but can also look at simple problems and ascertain the remedy?
Of course, it is the management or owners of the anodizing facility. They stand to profit from a well- run shop. They also gain by having “built-in” trainers later on. Conversely, they will be the one to lose when the rejects get too high or equipment is damaged.
Too many times beautifully engineered anodizing shops have had trouble staying afloat because of the lack of ability of the people given the responsible for running the line. This is not a criticism of the person- nel! Quite the contrary! Management being “forward visually challenged” brought about the disaster.
Recently, an anodizing company was having a very high reject rate. The owner of the company, a good “forward thinker,” decided the training level in his plant was not sufficient to reduce these rejects. He realized there was a need for some intense training by someone outside the company.
An anodizing consultant was brought in and spent four days with his people. The owner was also in attendance during the training. The training includ- ed both classroom study and on-line training.
At the time of the training, the reject rate was in the high double figures and he was running two shifts just to keep up with the customer demand.
Two weeks after the training sessions, the owner announced he was returning to one shift because the reject rate had now dropped into single digits and was still dropping. He stated that the consultant expenses had been “written off’ due to this upswing. He soon reported his reject rate was below 1% and was considering building another line to take care of his increased business. The quality improvement in his work has generated this new business.
Still, another plant was considering expanding from just Type II anodizing to Type III as well. The manager sought the advice of a consultant in the design of the hardcoat tank and enlisted the con- sultant to train his people. He realized the need for a well-designed hardcoat system and additional training before accepting military specification jobs.
The first trial load of hardcoated parts out of the tank was forwarded to a testing lab to determine if these parts indeed met the military specification. Their report came back with the comment that the parts met and surpassed the specifications. They also noted “these were probably the best Type III parts they had ever tested.”
Since then he has continued to surpass the mili- tary specifications on his new job orders.
THE SOLUTION OTHER BENEFITS What is the solution? Train the persons responsible for running the anodize line, but don’t stop there. Management representatives should also be a part of the training program. Even though the plant manager or shift foremen are not expected to do the “hands on” running of the line, they should be famil- iar with the system and how it operates.
Getting good parts out of the anodize line is not the only benefit obtained from well-trained personnel. Most good training programs teach troubleshooting and observations during the processing of the mate- rials. This will save the company a lot of money in the long run.
A trained observer will spot potential problems
September 2002 49
long before a large number of rack loads have been wrongly processed. He will be able to help correct the problem or know where to go to get the proper answers. Again, this equates to increased profits for the company.
WHERE To FIND ANODIZING CONSULTANTS
There was a time when finding someone to help train your people was as easy as calling a local chemical company. Unfortunately, this is not the case today. When business takes a downturn, tech- nical personnel are considered “overhead” and are released from their duties. Also, small companies that buy low quantities of chemicals are not consid- ered a good use of the surviving technical person- nel’s time. From the company’s point of view, this makes good sense; however, from the small anodiz- er’s point of view, he is without the help he so des- perately needs.
Fortunately, there are independent anodizing con- sultants available to help the large or the small anodiz- er with his problems. These consultants can be easily
reached through the American Electroplaters and Surface Finishers (AESF), the Aluminum Anodizers Council @AC), or from technical magazines such as Metal Finishing.
PRECAUTIONS
Be sure to get background information on the per- son you expect to hire to train your people. What kind of national or worldwide reputation does this person have as far as the anodizing industry is con- cerned? Has he (or she) had the experience neces- sary to determine how to adequately solve your line problems? What is his/her experience in training? Remember, improper training could make whatever problem you now have even worse!
BIOGRAPHY
Charles Grubbs, Charlie Grubbs Consulting, is an Anodizing Consultant with 46 years of experience in all phases of anodizing aluminum.
He can be reached at (863) 709-9207 or fax (863) 709-8918. MF
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