In one sense, things are getting better, in another, things are getting worse.
Wasted newspapers and newsprint have always been the focus of the Los Angeles Times Pressrooms, and recently our equitment has been getting the needed attention to cut waste. The machines (Ferags) that carry the newspapers to the mailroom are being serviced, and faulty detectors are being replaced.
Just Monday when five-hundred and sixty newspapers were added to my crews waste, I walked down to the mailroom to inspect the bad newspapers. To my shock, there were no bad newspapers! Seems the mailroom was just padding the drawn, attempting to prevent an under run and not run finals. This was a daily occurance, and adds 7% to 8% waste to my crews production report, we will no longer pad the count. I'm happy to report.
Friday's is what is worse in the pressroom, seems we are running in many different directions, without knowing what path we want to take?
Last Friday after returning from a much needed lunch break, we find another crew working on our press. When I asked if they were there to help us, the crew said they had been assigned to this particular press, so we had to jump to another press. My crew members had everything in place for a quick make ready, and jumping to another press added confusion to an already stressful situation.
To make matters worse, seventy-five percent into make ready, here comes another supervisor, changing our line (different zone) up to a competely different line up. The press was stopped, and we started from the beginning again, making reel changes and copies of the new press run. So our press was not ready for the next crew, would someone please get your act together.
I'm out of time at the moment, but you can keep the paid lunches, and shut my press down at 7:30 PM tomorrow, we rather have a lunch break than the paid lunch every Friday.
Eddie
PS I'm bring in two dozen tamales for my crew on Friday, in case we are forced to work through lunch.
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2 comments:
Hi Ed,
I'm glad we're not the only crew that's getting hit, the "Added Waste" is killing us too! Is there no mechanism in place to insure that there are indeed "bad" papers when the added waste is tacked on to our numbers?
Jesse,
Before the closing of Chatsworth, the crew supervisors at Oly would walk down to the Mailroom and check the bad newspapers. And many times, the wasted newspapers were actually good copies, slight tear in the paper, or the margin would jump over as a paster came through the press.
But the new crew supervisors are still learning the ropes, so the operators have to get over to the Mailroom and check the spoiled newspapers or eat the waste.
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