complacency in the workplace

Date 10-13-2007 17:25

I'm sitting here wondering how to resolve some major issues in the shop where I work. I have run this dept. for 9+ years and most of the guys I have working for me have been with me for multiple years. I have learned to trust these men and depend on them to perform their jobs to the best of their abilitys. We recently ended up with a major failure on a repair project. Once I looked into it I determined that a new employee had welded it. I could accept that and understood that with his limited experience, the job went bad. My fault for not realising his shortcomings.
Within 2 weeks we had a 2nd failure. Now I'm thinking wow did he work on this project as well? Nope. not this time it was two employees that I had complete faith in. Both were lined out with the proper procedure and requirements for a 100% weld. Upon visual inspection and a little arc gouging it was discovered that the weld was absolutely not a full pen weld and hence the primary cause of the failure. After that discovery was made I sent a UT tech onsite and had every repair checked and found another 5 units with discontinuities in the weld. I have brought all of those jobs back in for repair and have visually observed all of the repair work and I am shocked at how poorly these units were welded. As I pulled up the jobs I've also discovered that at least 4 employees have welded on these projects. I feel like we became very complacent in a humdrum everyday job,the welders as well as myself. The welders by losing site of the importance of a full pen weld. Myself for assuming that they knew and accepted the responcibility for thier work. The end result of these failures could have been profoundly expensive not to mention dangerous to anyone in the vicinity. As an inspector and supervisor I ultimately am responcible for these failures. I really don't have a reason for this post other than to vent my frustrations with myself. I also would hope that anyone reading this whether they are a welder or inspector to remember that we must never lose site of the importance of the integrity of the weld or the value of the inspection.

By Lawrence (*****)

Date 10-13-2007 17:50

Tracy

It's hard to be the Boss... I like your "buck stops here" attitude.

Now you have so many questions

1. Were my trusted craftsmen really complacent?

2. Were the craftsmen provided with everything in the way of tooling and equipment they needed to produce the excellence you expect?

3. Was the production schedule such that the work had to be pushed out the door to make time restraints?

If it is humdrum attitude, they must be reminded that you as boss should never hear anybody say... "Well I diddn't know it was going to be X-rayed" or some equally stupid response... They just have get into the mindset that everything must be top quality, all the time. And that your willing to back them to the hilt in both providing them the time to produce excellence as well as the equipment and procedures they need.

If those guys are as good as you say... They prolly feel about as bad about this as you and will be looking to show you they won't let it happen again..... If not... Down the road they must go eh?

By 803056

Date 10-13-2007 21:20

You've accepted the responsibility for the work produced by the shop, but it's a shared responsibility. You and your people are a team and the product shipped out the door is the result of the team effort.

It's time for a sit down for a little heart to heart discussion about what is right and what is wrong with the work being produced by the team. It's not time for finger pointing, that rarely produces positive results. What can be discussed by the team is what steps can be taken to ensure it doesn't happen again. Your team will respond if they are as skilled and competent as you say they are. Very few welders or tradesmen want to be associated with poor work or welds.

You can't become a policeman that checks every fit-up, every weld bead, every dimension, but you can institute a system were the welders check each other's work at key points in production.

You can make sure the equipment is maintained and the shop is kept clean and orderly.

You can make sure there are welding procedures to follow to ensure consistency in how the welding is performed.

You can consider using outside resources to assess how the work is being performed and to provide some unbiased opinions on how to improve the shop and the workmanship.

Good luck - Al