In Which Rabbitman Gets a Lift....

A bit over a month ago I applied for, and got a job transfer, to the Warehouse. The assembly cell was getting a bit boring, plus the Warehouse job is another $1/hour. As an added bonus I am now doing 4 weeks of day shift, then one week each of nights and afternoons, instead of switching every week. Most of the overtime is voluntary as well, which is quite nice. So more time, I hope, for cadets and gaming.

I actually had to interview for the position which surprised me. I'm used to either a Union environment, where the highest seniority applicant gets the posting or just being told by your Group Leader "You're getting moved to another department, go over there now." My five years driving a reach truck at Cooper-Standard

and couple of weeks (maybe a month?) driving a tugger at FIO came in rather handy.

It pulls carts loaded with components, like a train

Schaeffler wants to go with Kanbans and tuggers delivering components regularly to the assembly cells rather than lift trucks dumping skids of parts off a couple of times a week. So they wanted my prior experience.

I had only minimal experience on an actual lift truck getting into this,

but I got some good training at FIO and more at Schaeffler plus now I've had the chance to actually practice and develop my confidence. Reach trucks and lift trucks steer differently, so switching back and forth takes some thought.

The racking at Cooper wasn't nearly so high, nor as close together as the racks I'm now putting pallets on as well. It can be a little challenging when you're trying to put up, or get down, a pallet from 20 feet up and things are tight, or crooked, or both.

Our aisles are actually a bit tighter than this...

We've got a new Yale reach truck.

It's controls and handling are quite a bit different from the Raymonds everyone is used too.

Operator's station and controls

Plus it is very responsive, going from 0 to Ohcrap! in a split second. I put the first scratch in the paint and managed to bash in a couple of racks during it's first week. But I'm taking a perverse pleasure in learning the new control set up, plus everyone else avoids it, so it is often free to use.

Some days are actually quite mentally exhausting, as I'm really quite busy putting skids of finished goods away, picking orders for shipment and delivering components to the cells. My pockets are full of pens, markers, a note book, a knife and I've often got a radio clipped to me. I sometimes think I should wear a fishing vest for all the crap I find I need. It's a lot like working at the Buy Food sometimes, except the stock room is better organized.

Other side benefits are a better work out slugging boxes around and I'm getting a pretty good feel for the plant as a whole instead of my one little cell. Everybody seems to know my name now and I'm meeting more of my co-workers.