A hammer crew breaks when one member goes: HR for hot forging units

Hammer three had run the same crew for four years. The heater pulled billets at the right glow without being asked. The hammerman watched the manipulator's chin rather than his hands. The manipulator knew, without counting, when to give the bar its quarter-turn between the blocker and finisher impressions. Then the manipulator left for a job nearer his village. Within a week the hammer was turning out fewer good forgings. The trimming press kept catching laps. Then the hammerman cracked a finisher insert with a blow that landed a fraction early.

Nobody in that crew had become worse at his job. The crew had lost its timing. In hot forging units this is the people problem that does the most damage and gets the least planning.

• Signals. The hammer is too loud for speech, so nods, a lifted tong or a glance carry instructions.
• Blow counts. How many strikes each impression takes for each part, and when to stop before the die is overloaded.
• The turn. When and how far the manipulator rotates the bar, and how he presents it to the edger, fuller, blocker and finisher.
• The heat window. How fast the heater must hand over and the crew must finish before the steel cools too far.
• Flash reading. Who spots uneven flash or a lap starting, and who decides to stop the hammer.
• Die change habits. Who holds, who keys, who swabs, and in what order when the die setter arrives.

None of this sits in a job description. It lives in the crew, and it leaves partly with every member who goes.

Slower output while a replacement learns is the visible part. The hidden part is larger. Crews slow down deliberately when a new man is on the tongs, because a mistimed blow can hurt someone. Scrap rises: laps, underfill and mismatch show up at trimming and shot blasting. Dies take a beating from blows struck on a badly placed bar. And the remaining crew carries the strain. A hammerman who spends three weeks compensating for a raw manipulator is a hammerman updating his own CV.

Most hammer crews formed by accident. People were put together during a busy month and stayed together because it worked. That means there is rarely a named understudy for each role. Leave gets sanctioned one application at a time, so the heater and the manipulator of hammer two may both head home for Pongal or Chhath together. Wages are paid man by man, and nothing in the pay slip hints that a whole crew is worth more than its parts. The manipulator's role, closest to the heat and the scale, often goes to the newest helper, so it turns over fastest. Crew dependence heads the list of strains on the HR page for hot forgers.

1. 1

   Write the crew register

   For each hammer and press: heater, hammerman, manipulator, helpers, and the member who would be hardest to replace. Keep it next to the skill grid.

2. 2

   Name an understudy for every role

   Usually a helper or a member of a neighbouring crew. The understudy learns the signals and the blow counts, not only the machine.

3. 3

   Let the understudy run the role regularly

   One fixed shift each week, with the regular member beside him or moved to another role. An understudy who has never stood at the tongs is a name on paper.

4. 4

   Approve leave by crew

   Avoid two members of one crew being away together, and plan festival leave crew by crew well before the season.

5. 5

   Recognise the crew, not only the individuals

   Crew output and good forgings can carry a group element in pay or recognition, fair to each role and tied to quality, not tonnage alone.

6. 6

   Plan transfers instead of improvising them

   Moving a strong member to rescue a weak crew can break the strong one. Decide moves with both crews in view.

Recording who can fill which crew role is the heart of competency work in hot forging. Teaching the heater's and manipulator's judgement to an understudy fits the hot forging learning route.

• Use the notice period. Move the understudy into the role at once while the leaver is still there to coach.
• Plan the replacement's first fortnight. Short spells on the tongs with the crew warned to slow down, never a full shift on day one.
• Tell the crew what is happening. Who is stepping up, who is joining, and how the bonus or recognition will be handled during the change.
• Ask the leaver why. Heat, a night roster, a pay gap or a crewmate can each be behind it, and the answer helps keep the next one.
• Watch the remaining crew. The month after an exit is when the second resignation usually comes.

Walk the hammer line and write each crew down. Beside every crew, circle the member whose absence would hurt most and note whether anyone else has ever covered his role. That single sheet shows where the next exit will hurt. Sharing night duty fairly among furnace and hammer crews is set out in the hot forging rota guidance. Crew strain sits beside die care and heat on the hub for forges and press shops. Crew dependence across the wider trade is examined in our crews post. For help building crew registers and understudy plans, tell us your requirements.