Attendance, shift and leave process for CNC Turning Shops: cover, handovers and absence
A turning shop sells spindle hours. One setter absent on a night shift, or half a shift missing after pay day, shows up the same day as an idle lathe and a late dispatch.
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Share your requirementsWhy attendance, shift and leave process matters in CNC turning shops
Shift rosters are often kept in a supervisor's notebook. When a setter takes leave, nobody checks which lathes then have no one who can change over. Leave is approved on a friendly basis, then three people are away in the week a customer schedule peaks. Absence after pay day is accepted as normal, and the supervisor spends the first hour moving people around.
A workable process starts with a roster that shows the setter and the first piece approver for every shift, a leave rule that checks those two roles before approval, and a simple handover sheet between shifts. The record then shows patterns, such as which day of the month absence rises, so the owner can plan around it.
How to set it up
1. Mark the critical roles on the roster
Beside each shift, write who can set, who can approve the first piece and who covers the stores. If a shift has only one setter, that person's leave needs a named cover before it is approved.
2. Write a leave rule the supervisors can apply
Set how much notice is needed, how many of the same role may be away together and what happens near a dispatch date. Put it on one page and share it with the floor.
3. Use a handover sheet at every shift change
One side per lathe: job running, offsets changed, tool life, any rejection and what the next shift must check first. The outgoing and incoming leads both sign it.
4. Track absence by day and shift
Note absentees by date and shift for two months. Look at the days after pay day and before festivals, then plan extra cover. The attendance and shift software helps if sheets get hard to manage.
5. Agree a call-out rule for the night
Decide who the night lead may call, at what time and for what, such as a size drift the operator cannot correct. Write the number list at the machine.
Check these first
Before changing anything, find out what is true today. These take an afternoon and use your own records.
- Count the lathes where only one person on a shift can do a changeover.
- Pull last month's absence by date and see whether it clusters after pay day.
- Read three handover sheets from different shifts and see whether offset changes were written down.
- Check how many leave approvals last month left a shift without a setter, and who approved them.
GullyHR can do this with you. Read how we approach attendance, shift and leave process in general, or share your requirements and we will tell you where to start.
Questions owners ask
First see the pattern in your own records. Then plan the heavy changeovers for other days, keep a named backup per lathe and talk with the people involved. A rule applied the same way to everyone works better than a punishment on the day.
Not always. A trusted senior operator as night lead, with a written call-out rule and a handover sheet, can work. A review of the sheets each week tells you whether it is holding up.
A sheet is enough for a small shop. Move to software when the roster, leave and overtime cannot be reconciled by hand each month. The decision should follow the records, not the other way round.