A monthly people review for rubber product makers: ten questions for the owner

Owners of rubber plants watch scrap, compound cost and dispatch every day. People questions tend to come up only when a press hand resigns, a burn needs a hospital visit or a customer raises a debit note for under-cure. A monthly hour with one printed sheet surfaces those warnings while they are small and cheap to fix.

The questions fit press shops, hose lines, belt plants, gasket and seal units, silicone rooms and job-order parts works. Keep the wording, swap in your own station names, and hold it in the same week every month.

• HR: starters and exits per section, attendance, overtime by name, pending sign-offs.
• Works manager: the mould change log with waiting time, scorched or re-milled batches, debit notes and customer complaints.
• Shift in-charge, rotating: burn and close-call cards, trimming hall disputes, and one thing the crew keeps raising.
• Owner: last month's sheet, with its actions and the names against them.

Month: ________. Present: owner, works manager, HR, shift in-charge ________.
1. Which station ran a shift with a lone qualified hand: kneader, extruder, splice table, transfer press, burst test cage? Answer and owner: ________.
2. Of last month's starters, who is still here, and from which section did the leavers go? Answer and owner: ________.
3. Did anyone cut a cure, a post-cure or a bump cycle to make a count, and what evidence shows it either way? Answer and owner: ________.
4. Which burns, pinched fingers and close calls were logged, and which one led to a change? Answer and owner: ________.
5. How many tally or reject disputes reached the trimming hall in-charge, and how quickly did rejects return to the tables? Answer and owner: ________.
6. Whose names carry the overtime, and do those names repeat from the previous sheet? Answer and owner: ________.
7. How long did presses stand idle waiting for a mould fitter? Answer and owner: ________.
8. Which batches were scorched, re-milled or held, and who signed their batch tags? Answer and owner: ________.
9. Which debit notes or complaints trace to a people cause: wrong part number, under-cure, lint, a skipped check? Answer and owner: ________.
10. What was promised to the crews at the last review, and is it done? Answer and owner: ________.
Next review date: ________. Sheet held by: ________.

Vague replies kill this meeting. Press each one until it names a station, a shift or a person. A few contrasts show the difference.

• Question 1: not 'cover was fine', but 'the night kneader had one name for nine shifts, and the second is two sign-offs short'.
• Question 8: not 'a few batches had trouble', but 'two nitrile batches scorched on the night mill, both signed by a relief hand with no kneader sign-off'.
• Question 9: not 'some complaints', but 'one debit note for mixed part numbers in a gasket carton, packed during the evening rush'.
• Question 3: not 'no cut cures', but 'the timer log on presses four and seven shows no early openings, and the hourly passed-part check agrees'.
• Question 6: not 'overtime was high', but 'the same three extruder hands worked every Sunday, and two have asked to move to days'.
• Question 7: not 'fitters were busy', but 'presses sat idle for a combined half-shift on Tuesday nights, when the only fitter was on leave'.
• Question 10: not 'in progress', but 'the second water point at the oven door is fitted, and the crew heard about it at the huddle'.

1. 1

   Lock the date

   Same week each month, after the wage run, so attendance and overtime figures are final. Postponing it for a rush order is how the habit dies.

2. 2

   Open with last month's sheet

   Five minutes on the previous actions and their names. An open item stays on the sheet until somebody closes it.

3. 3

   Work through all ten

   Three or four minutes each. If a topic runs over, give it a separate meeting with one person leading it.

4. 4

   One person per action

   A name, not a department, with a target date. 'Production will look into it' is not an answer.

5. 5

   Carry one decision to the huddle

   Pick a single decision and have the in-charge announce it at the following morning's huddle. That is what keeps question ten honest.

One poor month can come from a festival, a breakdown or a fever doing the rounds. Each quarter, lay out the last three sheets together and watch for repeats. A station that keeps showing one name. Sunday overtime falling on the same people. Lint rejects from one room, or joiners leaving one press bay. Each points to something built into how the plant runs, and deserves a proper fix rather than another reminder.

Questions 1, 2 and 6 lean on a working skill grid and a clean attendance record. The five-letter skill grid supplies the cover count, and rules that hold cover on a busy day help with overtime and relief. For reading exits properly, see why people leave rubber plants. For scrap and attendance laid out by job and shift, see how gasket makers lay out reporting. The rest of the trade's people agenda sits on our rubber trade overview. To get the sheet set up with your plant's figures, describe your plant to us.