Hello all. I hope I'm asking this in the correct sub so here goes. Two months ago I was hired-on as a fabricator at a specialty manufacturer of food-grade refrigerators and food-grade air-conditioning units. Over the course of a week, we will drill hundreds of holes into aluminum and mild steel (max thickness: 1/4") with various hand-drills and various bits (common bits, taps, step bits, hole saws, countersinks, etc.).
Here's the problem: probably 99% of our bits are dull. Employees hide their favorite, still some-what sharp bits in secret locations throughout the shop, while the overwhelming majority of our drill-bits remain unused at our communal work-station. I've been told that fights have occurred in the past when employees raid other employees' stashes of good bits. Management firmly refuses to buy new bits, refuses to send dull bits out for sharpening, refuses to teach employees how to sharpen our bits in our nice machine-shop, prohibits employees from learning to sharpen the bits in our nice machine-shop, refuses to provide cutting oil for use during regular drilling, and even refuses to recognize that our bits are dull. Additionally, employees firmly refuse to use cutting oil at all since it is "too messy" and "doesn't help keep bits sharp" and that "employees shouldn't have to use cutting oil". When cutting oil is used, it is always WD-40 or something similarly worthless.
Managers and employees alike complain about how long it takes to drill anything, how long it takes for jobs to be completed, how good/bad the bits are, and whose responsibility it is to maintain good bits (thankfully, management recognizes that employees are not obligated to bring their own tools from home). Does anyone have any advice that could help with this situation?
Submitted February 26, 2015 at 10:24AM by MuffMagician http://ift.tt/18nxG3m manufacturing
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