Onboarding a new joiner on the production floor in plastic moulding and extrusion units: the first 30 days

She reaches the gate at twenty to eight for an eight o'clock start. Someone hands her thin cotton gloves and points at press twelve. Nobody mentions that the sprue drops scalding from the robot arm. By the tiffin break she has a red welt on her wrist. On Thursday she is put on nights. By the following Monday her locker is empty.

In press shops and extrusion bays, the opening month is where most short stays are decided. Joiners seldom quit because the work is hard. They quit because it proved harder than anyone admitted, nobody taught them how to stay safe, and the first night ambushed them. A planned thirty days cures most of that without slowing the floor.

• Joining date, shift, wage day and the documents to bring, confirmed on paper in a language the joiner reads.
• Locker number, uniform and steel toecap shoes in the right size, plus cut-resistant gloves, sleeve guards, ear plugs and, on food packaging lines, hairnets.
• A named buddy on the joiner's own shift, told in advance and given an hour to prepare.
• Day shift fixed for the first month, so a first night never arrives unannounced.
• The minibus route or pick-up point for that shift, written down.
• The joining papers in a file, using a joining checklist so nothing slips.

1. 1

   Papers at the gate, kept short

   Half an hour at most. The joiner wants to see the floor, not sign forms all morning.

2. 2

   The safety walk

   Hot nozzles and barrels, the safety gate interlock on each press, emergency stops, the granulator feed throat, conveyor nip points, forklift lanes and the assembly point outside. The joiner presses an emergency stop once, under supervision.

3. 3

   Meet the people

   The shift lead, the buddy, the setter for that machine group and the inspector. One sentence each on what they do and when to go to them.

4. 4

   One bench, shown slowly

   The buddy demonstrates the task, then watches the joiner do it. A reference panel above the bench shows incomplete fills, parting-line flash, sink dimples and black specks on real samples.

5. 5

   Where things go

   Which bin takes rejects, which takes regrind, how cartons are labelled and weigh-counted, and why mixing them causes trouble at the customer's goods-in.

6. 6

   End-of-day word

   Five minutes with the buddy: what was confusing, what hurt, what to ask tomorrow.

Keep the joiner at the same bench all week. Repetition trains the eye. The buddy inspects their cartons at mid-morning and again before tea, and fixes slips privately, never publicly. By day four the joiner should name the usual blemishes on that part and know whom to summon when a press alarm shrieks. On day seven, someone with no say over the joiner's shifts asks three questions: is the work what you expected, has anything felt unsafe, and do you know when you will be paid.

Add a second task now, for instance deburring then cartoning, or coiling then the cut-off saw on a conduit line. Explain the rota the joiner will move into, including when nights begin. If nights must start in week three, the buddy goes too. Around day fifteen the shift lead reviews attendance, any scrapes or scalds, and whether the newcomer is mixing with the crew or eating alone in the mess. Isolation is an early warning, especially for migrant workers who are homesick and far from family.

Name, joining date, buddy, shift, and the press group or extrusion line.
First bench: task shown, faults recognised, signed by the buddy and the setter.
Second bench: task shown, faults recognised, signed by the buddy and the setter.
Safety: emergency stop located, safety gate rule known, gloves and ear plugs worn, signed by the shift lead.
Attendance in the first month and any late arrivals, noted without comment.
Worries the joiner raised, and the response to each.
Next step agreed: stay on these benches, learn a third, or begin learning to tend a press.

HR, or anyone with no authority over the joiner's rota, holds the thirty-day talk. Keep it brief. Ask what nearly made them quit. Jot the answer down and pass anything about a tool, a guard or a colleague to whoever can remedy it.

• HR or admin: papers, locker, uniform, explaining the wage day, and the day-seven and day-thirty talks.
• Shift lead: the rota, the day-fifteen review and the safety sign-off.
• Buddy: daily coaching, carton checks and the end-of-day word during the first week.
• Setter: signs off each bench once the joiner can tell good mouldings from rejects on that tool.
• Safety officer: the day-one walk and follow-up on any scald, nick or near miss.

Our employee onboarding process turns these steps into a routine the plant can run for every batch of joiners. For moulders of small parts with assembly benches, see onboarding in plastic component makers. Converters with printing and slitting lines have a separate page on onboarding helpers in plastic packaging makers. The wider sector picture is on our page for plastics plant HR.