Motivating Skilled Toolroom Craftsmen
Steve Johnson, president of MoldTrax, has a lot to say about mold maintenance. So much so, that we could not fit it all into his February "Maintenance Matters" column. Here are some extra pointers that didn't make the cut, but are just as important.
This timeline shows a mold repair technician’s various levels of job interest as they progress through the maintenance career.
This screen shot shows a work order system that uses corrective action terms specific for moldmaking and their related explanations that allow users to connect the corrective action term to the appropriate defect term (in another drop-down section), which ensures accurate reports for measuring (counting) frequencies, viewing real issues and then to setting targets and goals to proactively attack those areas. Twenty-five drop-down fields help standardize 95 percent of typical maintenance data used by repair technicians.
A properly set up maintenance and repair area, including the right hand and machine tools, proper bench design, easy access to utilities and proper lighting, enables repair technicians to be more successful in their work.
Steve Johnson is president of MoldTrax Maintenance Solutions, which provides specialized course work, hands-on bench training, maintenance software, maintenance products, toolroom design and maintenance efficiency auditing. I have been working with Steve since we started MMT back in 1997. He always has a lot to say about mold maintenance, but more importantly he also has a ton of passion for the subject.
Steve's focus in his initial article for his 2017 Maintenance Matters column was on the toolroom manager's role in employee motivation when it comes to mold maintenance and repair. Basically, he believes toolroom managers and supervisors set the pace of the shop and overall efficiency of the toolroom, so knowing how to train and motivate skilled craftsmen is key.
In a nutshell, he says a majority of repair technicians are either cruising through work or trying to make things worse, while the molds they repair are being run and looked after by folks who really don’t give a hoot about anything job related. Not a good situation.
Although his column explains the dilemna in detail and provides some solid strategies for proper motivation, we couldn't give him all the room he needed. So, I thought I’d share a few extra tidbits on employee motivation progression, standard terms and proper toolroom setup that didn't make the print issue in a slideshow.
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