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Ok, so theres part of my job that requires me to get the left over paper off of the spools we use, called a "slab".
Basically its a spool about 15 feet long, 8" in diameter and the paper comes off of the machine and winds on to it. From there, i take the spools down the line to the winder, which unwinds it on to cardboard tubes or "cores". They always make the reels of paper a little bigger than needed incase we have to splice a sheet if it breaks or what have you. I can illustrate this more if needed.
So "slabbing" is where i put on a leather gauntlet, use a really sharp stanley knife (we order special blades, as the regular stanley blades break off, and cause a serious hazard) and basically i lean down, dig the knife into the edge of the paper at one side, and run down it until i hit the other end, for a regular slab i do this 2-3 times until i hit the steel, then clean up the spool and load it back into the paper machine (it sits in arms, that lower it down, since paper making is a continual process, you break the sheet off of the finished reel and move it on to the empty one you load, i have a very time sensitive job).
So basically the company decides to go with these new spools. They have a rubber coating...so that means no more knives, instead i load it onto the stand the reels are, pull it under the spinning paper reel on the machine and onto a conveyor. First off, its tough as hell to get one of these reels spinning on your own, and nobody helps you lol, second, i have to duck under a huge spinning reel of paper, which sucks if the sheet breaks, it could be fatal, and third, the conveyor takes a lot of slack to start pulling the paper, until it hits the agitator in the re pulp bin where it will be shredded into mush. The huge down side is that it doesnt pull at a constant rate, it may go fast or slow, it may take up to 20 minutes to spin off one slab, which is VERY bad.
Not only all that, but if the sheet unwinding breaks...the reel is still spinning and there could be a sheet 15 feet wide by 100 feet long all over the floor in a big tangle...cue me slicing with a knife and ripping it for 30 minutes...also VERY bad. My job is very time sensative, i have about 50-70 small tasks and steps to take care of, i have 3 major jobs, that if neglected can shut the machine down, and sometimes i have to load the winder, get the crane under the new reel for turn up and do 3 other things in 5 minutes....
So you can see how taking 20-30 mins to do a job that would take 5-10 is a huge issue for me.
So cut to my supervisor last night asking me how its going with the new system....i tell him that its great on my arms not having to use the knife, but its not a consistent speed which makes it hard to account for as i get organized.....his response???
"Ok, thank you for your input, try to make it work and see if you can come up with some ideas, but switch to the old rolls if you need to. We will find a way to do it better. By the way, i know you got behind on your broke tank because of this new way of doing things, but i want to tell you that i think youre doing an excellent job."
My jaw hit the floor!
I realize that it was a lot of post for little gain, but without (albeit poorly) explaining how stuff works it doesnt seem as big a deal as it is!
If anyone needs me to clarify i will do my best
Basically its a spool about 15 feet long, 8" in diameter and the paper comes off of the machine and winds on to it. From there, i take the spools down the line to the winder, which unwinds it on to cardboard tubes or "cores". They always make the reels of paper a little bigger than needed incase we have to splice a sheet if it breaks or what have you. I can illustrate this more if needed.
So "slabbing" is where i put on a leather gauntlet, use a really sharp stanley knife (we order special blades, as the regular stanley blades break off, and cause a serious hazard) and basically i lean down, dig the knife into the edge of the paper at one side, and run down it until i hit the other end, for a regular slab i do this 2-3 times until i hit the steel, then clean up the spool and load it back into the paper machine (it sits in arms, that lower it down, since paper making is a continual process, you break the sheet off of the finished reel and move it on to the empty one you load, i have a very time sensitive job).
So basically the company decides to go with these new spools. They have a rubber coating...so that means no more knives, instead i load it onto the stand the reels are, pull it under the spinning paper reel on the machine and onto a conveyor. First off, its tough as hell to get one of these reels spinning on your own, and nobody helps you lol, second, i have to duck under a huge spinning reel of paper, which sucks if the sheet breaks, it could be fatal, and third, the conveyor takes a lot of slack to start pulling the paper, until it hits the agitator in the re pulp bin where it will be shredded into mush. The huge down side is that it doesnt pull at a constant rate, it may go fast or slow, it may take up to 20 minutes to spin off one slab, which is VERY bad.
Not only all that, but if the sheet unwinding breaks...the reel is still spinning and there could be a sheet 15 feet wide by 100 feet long all over the floor in a big tangle...cue me slicing with a knife and ripping it for 30 minutes...also VERY bad. My job is very time sensative, i have about 50-70 small tasks and steps to take care of, i have 3 major jobs, that if neglected can shut the machine down, and sometimes i have to load the winder, get the crane under the new reel for turn up and do 3 other things in 5 minutes....
So you can see how taking 20-30 mins to do a job that would take 5-10 is a huge issue for me.
So cut to my supervisor last night asking me how its going with the new system....i tell him that its great on my arms not having to use the knife, but its not a consistent speed which makes it hard to account for as i get organized.....his response???
"Ok, thank you for your input, try to make it work and see if you can come up with some ideas, but switch to the old rolls if you need to. We will find a way to do it better. By the way, i know you got behind on your broke tank because of this new way of doing things, but i want to tell you that i think youre doing an excellent job."
My jaw hit the floor!
I realize that it was a lot of post for little gain, but without (albeit poorly) explaining how stuff works it doesnt seem as big a deal as it is!
If anyone needs me to clarify i will do my best
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