Industrial Fiction, Working on the line

The story starts HERE

“I am going to get you used to the plant by having you investigate a list of parts that might be re-sourced” Paula said.

“There was already an effort to identify parts that were...um...over-priced when you kicked over the apple cart. One of my associates worked with a database and statistics animal at headquarters. His regular job didn’t keep him busy enough so he built a regression model to predict what a part “should” cost. Then he sorted through our bill-of-material to identify parts that are over-priced.”

“Fortunately, the contracts for all the parts in the new product have a clause where we can reopen bidding if the volumes go above or below a certain point. In a few months we will have the opportunity to put out requests-for-bids on every part in the unit because of sales volume” Paula said.

“So, you want me to investigate these parts?” Snodgrass asked, confident he was on comfortable ground.

“In a way” Paula said. “But maybe not the way you are thinking.”

Paula beckoned over to a couple of men who had been waiting just out of Snodgrass’s sight in the team room.

Joining Paula and Snodgrass, John saw it was Ganzer and a short, squaty man who resembled a walking fire-hydrant.

Paula said “You know Ganzer from the tryout. This is Matthias” gesturing to the other man. “Matthias is the chairman of the Union local.”

Snodgrass was instantly wary. He had very conflicted, and mostly negative views of the Union. “Hello” he said, tentatively.

Matthias was almost jovial. “Hello” he boomed. Decades in the factory and hit-or-miss hearing protection had left his slightly deaf. “Good to have you aboard”

“I am loaning you to Matthias until the end of the shift. I will swing by and see how you are doing throughout the day” Paula assured him.

Seeing his stricken look, Paula said “70% happy. Remember that.”

“Come with me” Matthias said as he turned and started walking away from the table. Snodgrass had no options but to follow him.

“First, we are going to swing by the locker rooms. Ganzer will give you a lock. You are going to put everything but your wallet, your phone and your skivvies in a locker and put on a set of blue cover-alls.”

“Then, we are going to take you to the line and you are going to learn a production job today” Matthias said.

“Wait. I thought there were union rules where management is prohibited from doing hourly work?” Snodgrass said, confused.

“Actually, the are rules that prohibit management from replacing union workers to do hourly work. You aren’t displacing an hourly-worker. In fact, he will be there the entire time training you” Matthias said.

In for a dime, in for a dollar. At least he had worn a comfortable pair of shoes.

A production worker handed Snodgrass a three-ring binder and told him to take ten minutes to read through it. The binder had a cartoon enhanced explanation of what the job entailed. Four different products were built in the plant and depending on which product was in station, similar-but-different work had to be done on the job. Snodgrass was a quick reader. He read through the job descriptions twice.

Then his trainer had him stand in station and watch for ten minutes while the trainer chattered away. The trainer never rushed but he never stopped moving. As soon as he finished one job, he looked to see what the next product was, swung by the parts bins and “reloaded” and started working on the next product as soon as he could reach it. His pace was carefully calibrated so he was never walking any faster than he needed to.

“The way I like to train is to have you start doing a little piece of each job. Then, after you have mastered that I have you work on a different part of the job.”

“I am going to start you on using the push-pins to attach the flubber pieces. Grab a three-pocket apron over there and put the push-pins in exactly the way I do” the man said.

“Oh, by the way, my name is Carlson.”

“Why is it important to put them in exactly the way you do? I am not arguing. I just remember things better when I know why” Snodgrass said.

“Great question” Carlson said with good humor. “The push-pins are not interchangeable. I have mine set up so the when I am standing in front of the bins my pockets are one-for-one matches with where the pins are in the bins. That way I don’t have to think. Pins in the left bin go in my left pocket. Pins in the right go into the right and so on”

“By the way, if you drop some pins, and you will, don’t re-bin them or put them back in your apron. Mixed stock is the curse of this job.”

So Snodgrass started out learning to pin flubber, load parts and clip together wire-harnesses.

It took Snodgrass an embarrassingly long time to master pinning the flubber. The four different products used different numbers of the different push-pins and the Snodgrass could not look at the holes and tell which pin went in. He had to rely on brute memorization. 4-2-1 for one model. 2-2-2 for another 0-3-2 for a third.

His trainer watched him, silent, as Snodgrass pushed the pins. “I am responsible for your work. I am the one signed into the station so if it is not done right, I am the guy who is called on the carpet” Carlson told him.

There was one other person working in Snodgrass and Carlson’s station. His name was Juicer. Just down-line were another two operators, Nguyen and Hendershot. Except for introductions at the beginning, they didn't interact with him much. It was just as well. He was completely focused on learning the elements of the job; a job that seem really simple on paper but was complicated and intensely unforgiving in the actual execution.

Shortly before lunch there was some excitement. Snodgrass had become “solid” enough at push-pins that Carlson had started him on the “stuffing flubber” part of the job. The piece of flubber that Snodgrass was loading tore as he loaded it.

“Shit!” Carlson swore and Carlson hit the andon cord which started music singing.

“Yank that piece out of there. When you grab another piece, check to see if there is a crack in the corner. If there is, then throw the piece out in the aisleway and check the next piece. Keep pulling pieces until you find a good one.”

People started coming out of the woodwork in response to the music.

That is when Snodgrass noticed that the piece that broke had been pulled from a bin of material that the tuggers had just dropped off. 

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