Today has been a busy day and we are still not quite finished yet so it will be a late one tonight. Everything seemed to be going smoothly and according to plan until I checked the sand tube filler. This is what I expect from others making sure by paying attention to what is really happening. If you are looking from a distance you would be oblivious and why you need to check things thoroughly.
This guy had decided it would be quicker to sellotape the one end instead of heat sealing it which we do twice to guarantee no leakage. Maybe you save a few seconds, but overall you are jeopardizing the finished product. A bad idea on his behalf which made us have to stop and work out which punch bags had to be redone. There was 33 in total that needed to be redone which set us back about 4 hours which is now 6 hours in costs due to 1.5 x Saturday pay overtime. The risk of sand spilling out is not an option and sellotape forming the seal is not great because the glue will dry out over a period of time. South Africa is a hot dry climate and you have to think about the seal guaranteeing there is no leakage and sellotape is not an option and never was.
Unfortunately there are members of you crew that you have to keep a close eye on and I was disappointed that no one else had picked this up. This is not difficult and it is all about having an eye for detail knowing what can happen making sure it does not.
I can recall having something similar happen may years ago when we had completed a bicycle assembly run of 2000 bicycles only for myself to spot roughly 250 boxes of pedals and saddles. Those were meant to match the 2000 so every single bicycle box now had to be reopened and double checked. This is why having certain people doing certain jobs is how a production line works because it only takes one person to mess it all up.
I have no problem if someone has an idea because it is great they are thinking of how to improve things, but ask first. The great idea has cost everyone an extra 4 hours and we will finish tonight, just not sure when exactly.
We are somewhere averaging around the 9-10 bags per hour mark and had 85 still to complete at 2pm this afternoon. Next month things will be far better as we will be more organised and not under time pressure. I have ordered some new flooring which will help jazz up the production area moving it to another section of the warehouse. Things are just too untidy for my liking and we will be better prepared and more efficient.
This is all in preparation for an audit which will guarantee us another client which will have us close to 100% market share of the punch bag market in South Africa and the neighboring countries.