What a great first week at Accumold!
Throughout my first few days, I’ve
gained a much better understanding of the company, the procedures, and the
tasks I am going to tackle during my time this summer. Accumold is a micro-molding manufacturer of
tiny plastic parts. They construct steel
molds according to customer specifications, inject resin with precision, and
have an intense quality control line. I
have never been involved with manufacturing before, and the processes Accumold
has are clearly in place to make sure things run smoothly. It absolutely blows my mind how tiny most of
the parts are, and I find it fascinating how the molds can be SO precise and
accurate. When measuring in fractions of
microns, there isn’t much room for error.
I’ve been growing more accustom to
the language of the field with words like gates, gate vestige, flash, MRB, BOM,
AQL, and RMA. Having always been in the
educational field, it’s fun to work with people who have been in the Accumold
family for years and have a strong passion for these strategies and
processes. It’s an entirely different
world from what I’ve ever known.
I had the
opportunity to sit in on a Material Review Board meeting that focused on
process improvement (to clearly follow parts from being labeled faulty, solving
the problem, and getting the parts back to where they belong). The explicit outline for the meeting was
incredible! There was a set agenda,
purpose, goals, and payback posted up and reviewed prior to beginning. My favorite part—the payback. So frequently we set goals and talk about
what we need to accomplish, but what do we specifically get out of it? It was great to have a clear layout of what
will be in place when we’re done.
One of the
biggest issues at the process improvement meeting focused on a deadline. When the parts are due to be shipped that
day, paperwork gets put on the backburner for efficiency purposes. That’s were pieces get “lost” or electronic
files don’t match where the parts actually are located. It then requires additional effort to realign
the inventory movement paperwork before it’s released for shipment. When it’s
due, it’s due, and priorities shift a little.
This rang a bell for me with testing in accordance to district
standardized tests. We have a common
unit test to give at the end of every unit, and there’s a target due date to
get the scores submitted. As the date
approaches, priorities shift a little, and some of the supporting standards
might get shoved aside by the priority standards.
Another big
ah-ha moment focused on implementing a Gradual Release of Responsibility. Some employees failed a Phase 1 measurement
test. One of my tasks is to help
remediate and ultimately retest these employees. I was given instructions to retest the
employees on the same 6 parts. If they
failed again, I was to test them on a new set of 20 parts I put together. Recognizing a teachable moment, I offered
some teaching strategies at this point.
Rather than just retesting them on the larger sample, I will use about
10-15 of the pieces to train them. I’ll
model it for them, then help them through a couple, then they’ll show me they
can measure more independently. After
the series of instructions, I’ll retest them when I’m more confident in their
abilities.
One big
mind-puzzler for me is with a few employees who are still learning the English
language. Right now their job is quality
inspection. They inspect the parts to
make sure there aren’t any blemishes, gate vestige, flash, or anything else
that could make it a faulty part.
Computers, cameras, and robots threaten their job security. Someday, their job will be obsolete, and
they’ll have to learn a new skill. One
thing that was mentioned was Accumold’s deep care for their employees and
helping them provide for their families.
To have to lay off an employee would be heart-wrenching. We discussed a few options to make sure this
doesn’t happen, one solution being to help educate these employees. Teaching them English and broadening their
skill set would help to make sure they don’t get replaced. Of course, that takes time, money, and other
resources. This brings up a puzzling
moral question. What’s more
important? Spending resources on employees
with intentions of keeping them around, or spending those resources elsewhere
to further the company?
I haven’t
found many direct links of things to use in my classroom yet, but the ELL
experience definitely has had the most lasting impact. Educating the students to actually know the
language and to have a desire to be a lifelong learner is key. With a few more projects coming underway next
week, I’m very excited to see what’s in store for this summer at Accumold!
No comments:
Post a Comment