Teaching Mold Terminology To Your Technicians

I was on-site the other day and was asked a common question from the tool room manager…

Ron
It seems like our molding technicians know very little about tooling. As a result, they always use the wrong name for components such as gibs, lifters, and actuators… which makes the toolmakers laugh. What is the best way to improve this?
My Response
Believe it or not, this is actually a very common situation. The best way to improve this is to have the tooling personnel help cross-train your employees. This makes them partially responsible for the technicians knowledge  of tooling. This gives them a vested interest in helping the technicians rather than insulting them.
A great opportunity to do this would be during mold maintenance. If you have the technicians assist in the mold breakdown or re-assembly the tooling person can explain the name and purpose of each component during the process.
Additional Thoughts
Much of this comes from the defensiveness on the moldmakers part since they seldom have a good knowledge of processing. So… don’t forget to reverse the process and have the technicians teach your tooling personnel about processing.
-Andy

Leave a Comment