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Last week was interesting. I work in a high Precision Machining Plant. We make parts for almost any industry you can think of.
At my company we can buy our own tools, most people do because QA (Quality Assurance) tools are used by every idiot that is gone withing 3 months. Case in point, QA was complaining how someone dropped a tool and did not tell them so it was out of calibration. On occasion, someone relatively new needs a tool I already own. It is checked out to the MACHINE (not the operator) and returned at the end of the jobs run (one day to six months).
Monday: I finish running a machine and take the measuring tools back to QA, including a Depth Micrometer (D-Mic). Normal stuff.
Tuesday: My supervisor comes to me to ask to see my tools and look in my tool box (Normally, I am big on the 4th amendment. But because it is on company property, I say yes. There is a time to be reasonable with requests.).
Sup: *Gilhelmi* the D-Mic from P1 (the name of the machine I was running on Monday) are missing. So I have to check with everyone on nights.
Me: I cleaned up after that job. I took that tool back to QA, but I did not even think to open the box.
Sup: OK, well if you think of anything let me know.
Thursday: I saw the HR person there, a bit unusual because it was almost 5PM and she leaves at 3:30 or so. She came over with my Supervisor to ask me what happened Monday.
HR: You are not in trouble. *PS: does anyone else find that phrase disconcerting?* We are trying to figure out what happened to the D-Mics on Monday.
Me: I finished the job, Cleaned up, and took the box back to QA. I did not think to look in the box.
HR: Did they feel lighter?
Me: I honestly was not paying attention, I was in a hurry to finish and move on to my next job.
HR: OK, you need to tell that to QA supervisor now.
Then we went to QA. QA super, HR person, MY super, and a person I did not know (more on that later). I repeated what happened. They thanked me and I went back to work.
Throughout this they did keep saying that they believed me and that I was not in trouble.
Then they called all of night shift together for a special staff meeting. Apparently, that man I did not know. He is the Vice President and Co-Owner of the company
. He was out for the last three days so he had just found out about the missing tool. Asked us if anyone knew or saw anything (and reiterated that none of us were in trouble).
Apparently, on Thursday morning, the D-Mics mysteriously reappeared by a clock-in computer. So they think it was someone on day shift who thought (probably true) that they were about to be caught and left them there to be found.
Starting next week, tools will no longer be checked out too machines but to the operators and are to be returned at the end of the shift (instead of leaving them at the machine for days/weeks). It will be a slight pain in the neck (on the EXTREMELY rare occasion that I have to use QA's tools), but I think it is a good plan.
So I like where I work. I was not blamed and their response was reasonable without any overreaction in it.
At my company we can buy our own tools, most people do because QA (Quality Assurance) tools are used by every idiot that is gone withing 3 months. Case in point, QA was complaining how someone dropped a tool and did not tell them so it was out of calibration. On occasion, someone relatively new needs a tool I already own. It is checked out to the MACHINE (not the operator) and returned at the end of the jobs run (one day to six months).
Monday: I finish running a machine and take the measuring tools back to QA, including a Depth Micrometer (D-Mic). Normal stuff.
Tuesday: My supervisor comes to me to ask to see my tools and look in my tool box (Normally, I am big on the 4th amendment. But because it is on company property, I say yes. There is a time to be reasonable with requests.).
Sup: *Gilhelmi* the D-Mic from P1 (the name of the machine I was running on Monday) are missing. So I have to check with everyone on nights.
Me: I cleaned up after that job. I took that tool back to QA, but I did not even think to open the box.
Sup: OK, well if you think of anything let me know.
Thursday: I saw the HR person there, a bit unusual because it was almost 5PM and she leaves at 3:30 or so. She came over with my Supervisor to ask me what happened Monday.
HR: You are not in trouble. *PS: does anyone else find that phrase disconcerting?* We are trying to figure out what happened to the D-Mics on Monday.
Me: I finished the job, Cleaned up, and took the box back to QA. I did not think to look in the box.
HR: Did they feel lighter?
Me: I honestly was not paying attention, I was in a hurry to finish and move on to my next job.
HR: OK, you need to tell that to QA supervisor now.
Then we went to QA. QA super, HR person, MY super, and a person I did not know (more on that later). I repeated what happened. They thanked me and I went back to work.
Throughout this they did keep saying that they believed me and that I was not in trouble.
Then they called all of night shift together for a special staff meeting. Apparently, that man I did not know. He is the Vice President and Co-Owner of the company
. He was out for the last three days so he had just found out about the missing tool. Asked us if anyone knew or saw anything (and reiterated that none of us were in trouble).Apparently, on Thursday morning, the D-Mics mysteriously reappeared by a clock-in computer. So they think it was someone on day shift who thought (probably true) that they were about to be caught and left them there to be found.
Starting next week, tools will no longer be checked out too machines but to the operators and are to be returned at the end of the shift (instead of leaving them at the machine for days/weeks). It will be a slight pain in the neck (on the EXTREMELY rare occasion that I have to use QA's tools), but I think it is a good plan.
So I like where I work. I was not blamed and their response was reasonable without any overreaction in it.
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