A Rolling Job Cart?

[Rod Sheridan]

I'll second Brian's and Martin's suggestions.

I have a hydraulic cart and I'm going to make the cart top from Timothy Wilmots plans.

Here's a link to his MFSC, also be sure to watch his other shop videos, if you want to see how to organize your shop.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWEdrBdbBhg&t=244s

I have supplies in clear plastic bins on shelves, tools in trays in drawers and I put stuff away while working. It prevents knocking tools onto the floor, and increases your productivity.

In my mind a messy shop is a waste of time, I don't have time to be looking for stuff, it has to be where it's supposed to be, not over on another surface somewhere in the shop.

Regards, Rod.

[Martin Wasner]

I like a clean space.
I like an organized space.

Everything has a place, for the most part it's either in your hand or in it's place. It's a tough one to drill into people though. Everything, not just tools. Unusable scraps need to be disposed of. If it can't be used, why move it again? Move it to the appropriate can so it can be disposed of.

The general rule for the shop in this respect I call "make ready". Don't leave something for the next guy to do. It's not his job to do yours. Furthermore, I always tell people I'll do your job all day long if you want, but obsolescence is right around the corner, I'm also taking your dollars right out of your hand. Tough too, becauseifs I'm busy doing your job, I can't do mine. What is my job? My job is to make my employees successful. A shop full of successful disciplined people is a wonderful thing. Stress lowers, attitudes improve, product flows, pay goes up. Everyone wins.

Manufacturing has only two modes, you are either producing, or consuming. There is no grey area. Time spent looking for something, or moving something unnecessarily is consumption. Seconds count. Everyday if you waste five minutes, that's, almost 22 hours at the end of the year. I'd rather spend that time either pushing product out the door, or doing something fun.

Now, if you improve something a few seconds everyday you either increase the value of your business, or improve your standing at the business you work for. There is no down side.

Recently I was watching a guy on Instagram feeding stock through a shaper with a feeder. Looked like 8' material. He had no infeed or outfeed table on the shaper. He'd feed a piece, watch it go through, float it, pick it up, set it down, then start over. His spindle was sitting empty about half the time. If he had something to carry the material he could stand there the same amount of time, but double his production by running parts back to back. He'd also halve his operating cost since the collector and machine were still running when nothing was cutting

I'm lazy, I do anything I can to put as little effort into things as possible and still maintain standards. I don't really like working, so the lazy part of me wants it to be as efficient as reasonably possible. Being clean and organized goes a long ways to maintaining that attitude and ability.

There's a lot of tangents here, but the core value is the same, discipline equals freedom.