When working in any type of factory, it is important to make sure the machines are configured properly before they start to run.

What would you do if you got a new boss who made you work a normal day shift even though all your work had to finish before the rest of the people could start?

That is what happened to the manufacturing calibration engineer in this story, so he did what his boss told him to, resulting in a full day of lost work.

Check it out.

No one leaves til 5pm but no overtime? Bet.

Several years ago I worked for a aerospace manufacturing company (you already know this won’t end well) as a setup operator.

Meaning my job was to arrive before shift start, usually 3 or 4 hours early, make sure all the 5 axis mills were calibrated, the ATC (automatic tool changer) magazines were all loaded correctly and the tooling was in good condition, nothing dulled or broken.

This sounds like a very important job.

If there was damaged tooling part of the process was removing the carrier, replacing the cutter and resetting the cutter height with a gauge, making it so that the tip of every cutter is in the exact same position for that particular holder every time.

After being there for several years the company eventually gets acquired and new management comes in.

Sometimes those early morning shifts are nice.

I’m there from 3 or 4 in the morning until 1 or 2 pm, sometimes earlier if a new job gets added to the floor.

The schedule works fine for me, I get to beat traffic both ways and the pay is a bit higher due to the differential.

After a few weeks, it gets noticed that i constantly leave “early” and always run over on hours so they implement a new policy, work starts at 9am and runs til 5, you have to be on the floor ready to go when the clock hits 9:00.

Let me guess, the boss won’t listen.

I try to explain to my new boss exactly why I leave early but he’s more concerned about numbers and cash flow than what I actually do there.

So fine, you want 9 to 5, I’ll work 9 to 5. Instead of punching in at 4, I chill in my car til 8:45 and roll into the building, wait til exactly 9 and punch then head to the floor.

I roll up to the first haas on the line and hit the E-Stop, which shuts the machine down instantly.

They can’t be running until everything is calibrated.

I tell the operator this hasn’t been set up yet and they need to wait til its ready.

I then head down the line and punch every one I pass telling them the same thing, not ready, go wait.

I start at the end of the line with my platten and gauges and start calibrating the entire magazine, verifying everything in there is in spec and ready to be used.

These things take time.

Get the magazine done and home the probe so the machine knows where it is in 3d space and move to the next, that was about 40 minutes since I took my time.

Meanwhile, the rest of the line is dead in the water, nobody can do any work until their deck passes calibration and is certified to use.

I’m part way through the 2nd unit when I have my new manager breathing down my neck, why is nothing running, whats going on, etc etc etc.

He already explained it once, but I guess he can do it again.

I sit back on my haunches and calmly explain to him, this is my job, the one that until today I used to come in hours early to do as to not mess with the production schedule.

I need to get this done, should be ready to start the line in another 5 or 6 hours boss.

I’m told to unlock and get the line moving, no can do, none of these machines are checked and I’m not signing off on the certification until im done.

Anything not certified is a instant QC reject.

I don’t envy that manager’s day tomorrow.

Choose: run the line and reject a millions of dollars in parts or let me finish and lose a one million in production time and I go back to my old schedule tomorrow.

The plant got a day paid to do nothing, I got the new boss off my back and he got reamed out for losing a days production.

You would think new bosses would learn not to mess with systems that work, but sadly, that is never the case.

Read on to see what the people in the comments thought about this story.

This guy got his new boss to change his mind fast.

Exactly, why change things that work?

Yeah, those machine operators shouldn’t have started at all.

This person had a similar thing happen to him.

This person says to find out why people do things before asking them to change.

When new bosses come in and start making changes, you know it is going to be a mess.

Every single time.

If you liked that story, check out this post about an oblivious CEO who tells a web developer to “act his wage”… and it results in 30% of the workforce being laid off.