It seems some companies love expensive low-profit welding automation. Two frequent ops approaches are substituting myths for facts, and not allowing a welding expert to make welding decisions. Here are my Top 10 Production Management Strategies for Expensive Welding Automation in the manufacturing plant:
- “Just run it – that’s why we have weld repair”
- “Anyone in maintenance is qualified to adjust welds”
- “We can’t get time for PM’s” (we’ll take downtime instead)
- “We had to postpone weld training to save money”
- “If the weld fixture won’t run the parts, just shim it.”
- “We need to find the welding guy [engineer] something to do: he spends too much time standing around doing nothing” (except watching the processes to engineer and plan improvements)
- “We ordered cheaper weld wire to save money”
- “Quit complaining – just weld the parts” (out of spec)
- “Welding is simple – we don’t need experts: we have suppliers who need to earn their keep”
- “Don’t worry – the customer hasn’t complained”
(OK, yes, those are actual quotes from production management staff.)
I’m sure you’ve heard some “whoppers” – please share them in the comments so we can all moan and laugh! (And we can send a link here when we hear a “brilliant” welding management strategy suggested.)
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I have heard the same thing from companies that are not willing to solve the problems.