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38 MoldMaking Technology —— OCTOBER 2017 MAINTENANCE MATTERS Developing Good Shop Mates By Steve Johnson The rawhide hammer whizzed by its unintended target, miss- ing it by mere inches and bouncing harmlessly off a wall. A stressed-out repair technician threw it, and the shop had a mixed reaction. Some chuckled, others shook their heads in disgust and still others who thought, "It's all in a day's work," just ignored it. Fortunately for the technician, no management witnessed this impulsive act or the emotional episode would have ended in a write-up or something worse. At another table in the shop, a carelessly installed water hose fitting pops off, effectively drenching two technicians and a half-assembled mold. Now, someone gets to work in wet clothes while the drenched mold is disassembled and dried. Flying tools and mold components, spraying water and oil and other chaotic incidents are commonplace in shops across the globe. Wherever there is a group of tradespeople who work together in close proximity while they use hand and machine tools on frustrating mechanical items, tempers will flare, feel- ings will get hurt and emotions will provoke inappropriate responses. The repair technician who flung a five-pound ham- mer across the shop because a mold would not close after 15 minutes of pounding is a good example. Team Breakdown I have worked in and around many shops over the years, including those that send personnel to our mold maintenance training facility, where we witness the interaction between repair technicians from all over the world. From this, I've learned that shop cul- ture and healthy personal working relationships are vital for shop success. Just as the right skills, talent and tools yield safe and efficient work, failure to work as a cohesive unit yields an inefficient, motivation-depleting death spiral to an individual or to a shop. In launching our facility, we assumed that those plying their trade with other repair technicians from different cultures and backgrounds would bring their A game to our benches for fear of looking incompetent. This was not so in many cases. After a few hours of muscling an unfamiliar mold, some technicians began to show their true natures, which were not always pleasant. This gives us a glimpse of what occurs back at their shops. For example, people have arguments over hourly pay, time off, whether someone is always assigned the harder molds, who overtightens bolts, who has real skills and who is "working" management to get ahead. These arguments are often triggered by the mental and physical frustration of working on unreliable molds or molds that don't have the proper equipment (overhead hoists, mold splitters, proper bench design, adequate lighting and general shop layout) to make the job easier and safer. The pressure from management or of the production schedule to get molds running and to keep customers satisfied also adds stress. It's no wonder emotions explode and some suffer behav- ioral meltdowns. Team Buildup Building an efficient, successful team is one way to reduce the incidents of mold breakdowns. Finding the right people, or shop mates, is key. Here are some attributes that best describe a good shop mate. Affable. High-stress situations occur in mold repair and they call for someone who can help everyone relax when the stress to finish a mold is high. This person is approachable, easy to get along with and does not bring "home" problems to the work- place, which creates additional, unnecessary drama. Helpful. Tradespeople in the United States are competitive by nature, and sometimes they do not want to share knowledge that they have acquired over the years. That knowledge is con- sidered job "insurance." For example, a common response to technical questions is often, "Hey, he's making the same money that I am, so he can learn the way that I did." In reality, the company paid for that knowledge and experience, so hoard- ing it has no place in today's lean shops. Apprentices gravitate toward helpful technicians, even if those technicians are not the most highly skilled, which forms shop alliances. Careful. Molds are inherently dangerous, as are the tools used to work on them, including the machines, hand tools and cleaning agents. No one wants to work around someone who is dangerous or sloppy in his or her work habits. The repair shop Above all, building a team of shop mates takes leaders and mentors. Bill Stanton, a 30-year veteran toolmaker (left) at KW Container in Troy, Alabama, acts as a mentor to Dustin Jordan, a three-year mold repair technician, as part of the company's training program. Image courtesy of MoldTrax.