The first-week checklist for a new operator in automotive component makers

He reached the gate at six with a photocopied Aadhaar card and a steel tiffin. By ten he was feeding blanks into a sixty-tonne press, in safety shoes a size too big. Nobody explained the red bin until Thursday, when he tossed a cracked bracket into the good crate. On Friday evening his extra hours were cancelled without a word. On Monday he did not return.

That week cost a hiring round and left a half-trained person at a press. Plants in the automotive component group recruit in batches when call-offs climb, exactly when supervisors are stretched thinnest. A printed single page stops the basics being skipped. Clip it to a board that travels with the joiner and his buddy.

Name, employee or contractor code, line, shift, joining date, buddy's name, supervisor's name.
Day 1, at the gate: entry pass, locker, canteen coupon, and the company bus stop nearest his home confirmed.
Day 1: safety shoes, cut-resistant gloves, ear plugs and sleeve guards issued in the right size and signed for.
Day 1: walk with the buddy past fire exits, the muster point, eyewash station and every mushroom-head emergency stop on the line.
Day 1: press guards, light curtains and two-hand palm buttons shown; told never to reach past a guard or tape over a sensor.
Day 2: what the line makes, which vehicle it goes into, and what happens at the customer when one bad part slips through.
Day 2: red bin, yellow hold tag, rework rack and the kanban trolley route from stores shown; told a doubtful part in the red bin is never a mistake.
Day 3: one station only, buddy beside: work instruction read aloud, loading, unloading and cycle start.
Day 3: the gauge at that station: how to hold it, what green and red mean, whom to call on a red.
Day 4: boundary samples and defect board at the station: burr, crack, missing weld nut, part nested the wrong way round.
Day 4: the andon cord or stop lamp: how to raise it, and a clear word that raising it brings no scolding.
Day 5: rota, weekly off, overtime requests, leave forms and wage day explained, with the clerk who handles pay queries named.
Day 5: attendance rules: biometric punching, late arrival, informing absence and the number to ring.
Day 6: sit-down with the supervisor: three questions from the joiner, one thing that felt hard, skill matrix code entered.
Sign-offs: buddy initials each item on the day; supervisor signs on day 6; HR files the page in the personnel file.

When a line is short, the temptation is to rotate a newcomer across the blanking press, the nut welder and the deburring bench by Wednesday. He masters none of them. Worse, the matrix later pencils him near all three, which is how an untrained stand-in lands at a critical operation. Better one station, run under watch by day six. The second station can wait for week two.

• Buddy: a seasoned hand from the same crew, who initials each line the day it happens, not on Saturday from memory.
• Supervisor: glances at the clipboard before each crew change, runs the day-six sit-down and enters the matrix code.
• Safety officer: confirms the day-one walk and kit issue for every joiner, including contract workers.
• HR: prints the sheet with the joiner's name before the gate opens, files the signed page and chases any blanks.
• Contractor's supervisor: for supplied workers, attends day one so both sides hear identical rules.

Pick someone patient, not the quickest pair of hands on the line. Speed grows from habits a newcomer cannot copy yet. Trim the buddy's own target for those six shifts, or the coaching happens in snatched seconds between strokes. Thank him at the shift briefing when his joiner reaches code 2. Small recognition keeps good buddies volunteering.

1. 1

   Sit somewhere quiet

   The canteen after the lunch rush, or the training room. Fifteen minutes, in the joiner's own language.

2. 2

   Ask before telling

   What surprised you? What is still unclear about wages or the rota? Has anyone spoken to you harshly?

3. 3

   Walk the sheet together

   Any blank line gets done on day seven. Never sign over gaps.

4. 4

   Enter the matrix code honestly

   Code 2 on one station is a sound first week. Code 3 after six shifts is unusual and deserves a second look.

5. 5

   Fix one thing that day

   A shoe size, a bus pass, an unanswered wage query. A visible fix tells him the sheet was more than paperwork.

The sheet closes week one; onboarding carries on. Weeks two to six add stations, a first refresher and a month-end chat. A structured onboarding process covers the full arc. Harness plants, which hire the biggest batches, use a staged version on the harness onboarding page. If joiners still drift away by month three, read how to cut operator exits once the novelty fades.