Plant Managers – Friday Plant Walk – Let’s take this outside!

So, let’s take a look at the outside of your manufacturing plant. How is your site security?

The high today in Burleson is only 96° – practically a cold spell, so it’s a good day for it.

Is there a fence around your site?  If so, lucky you.

Do the gates stay closed most of the day? Badge or remote access so no one can just drive or walk through? That’s great.

• Or are they left open so anyone can just wander on to your site?
• Does that one gate fail every time you have high winds, so it just gets left open?

No fence? OK.

• “We’re in the middle of nowhere. Nobody is just walking up.” Fair enough, but dirt bikes cutting through your site? Someone walking the railroad track?
• Are doors around your building perimeter routinely left unlocked or propped open? I’m not singling out smokers here, but lots of folks step outside for a few minutes. It’s common to just leave the doors blocked open.
• Badge access required to open doors is great. Door codes to get in? That’s OK, but it’s not the street address, is it?
• What about the warehouse docks? Standing wide open? I know you need the airflow, but there are lockable gates you can install across the doors, that also provide the OSHA-required protection. (Loading docks 48” or higher need guardrail or handrail – I know, right? There are reasonable solutions. Grainger has some Loading Dock Safety Gates and some lockable folding gates.)

How about other access points?

• Do you have roof access ladders on your building? They should be locked or otherwise blocked to prevent unauthorized access.
• Silos? Ladders locked or blocked.

Dust collectors?

• Is the concrete/ground around the unit clean? Are your folks spilling powder everywhere when they dump the drum/tote? (Who dumps it? When? What do they do with the collected material?)
• Watch the blower exhaust for a few blowdown cycles – any dust coming out due to a blown-out filter? Watch through a cycle. (You should be able to hear the blowdowns – that pulse of compressed air that cleans each filter bank. Assuming the blowdowns are on a timer, and not DP, then every few seconds you’ll hear it. If you have 12 filters, the cycle repeats after 12 pulses.) If dust is coming out on any cycle, you have a failed filter.

How’s the housekeeping outside?

• Pellets? Powder? Other materials? Empty bags blowing around? Banding strap?
• Look around where your contractors park. Are they leaving a mess? Lunch trash in your metal dumpster?
• Cigarette butts? I have found cigarette butts on top of silos before! I am NOT suggesting you make that climb today – I was up there for another reason.
• Is the grass mowed and kept short? Watch out for snakes – it’s still warm out.
• Tree limbs kept clear of the building? (Have you seen a racoon get into a cooling tower fan on a roof before? Leaving out the obvious ‘Vacation’ movie reference line here.)
• Oil spills, broken pallet pieces, material spills where trucks deliver material to your site? Do your Logistics or Receiving folks have a spill kit? If a truck starts leaking, they can contain it before the fluid gets to a storm drain, right?

Do you have cages (Propane, Acetylene, Oxygen) outside? They should be locked. The combination locks aren’t using that street address again, are they?

Have a good weekend.

If you’re getting any value out of these PM Friday posts, let me know. Any topics you’d like me to cover?