flat sorting machine

[ubb 1689]

There's one being installed in our office and it is hoped that it will be up and running in either April or May.The question of how this will affect jobs and overtime is being branded about.Anyone know of any answers?

[zaphod]

Don't worry. Our's throws out quite a lot of manual work.

[ubb 1689]

I thought that.We are always being told that with all this new technology one day there will be zero rejects.Never.

[zaphod]

.

I thought that.We are always being told that with all this new technology one day there will be zero rejects.Never.

They always say that about machines, don't they? IMP's were a prime example - we will need only 4 manual frames to cope with the rejects of 8 IMP's , and what ever happened about the short life of MDEC operatives in their jobs. They are still there years after every address should have been inputed into the database.

FSM's are flawed, IMHO. They cannot do plastics, for example, and they fear putting anything over and above a thin flat through the machines, although thicker items are within acceptable parameters according to the manufacturer. They easily jam.

There's little to be feared from an FSM. Trust me. They, as all machinery at RM do not do what it says on the tin. They produce more third and fourth handling.

Please make sure that your colleagues has in writing that if anything goes wrong with the FSM during a shift that pending work will be outsourced from the office. We were promised this, when the FSM was 'sold' to the workforce at WTL&L sessions, but it never happens. The Packet area ends up doing it, and the FSM staff and manual flat sorters have an easy and early night.

(not that management would abide by such a written agreement, of course)

HTH

[billyb8]

There's one being installed in our office and it is hoped that it will be up and running in either April or May.The question of how this will affect jobs and overtime is being branded about.Anyone know of any answers?

From what I've been told expect to lose 20% of flat hours from the moment they turn it on. You'll probably have that amount of flexibility to absorb them into other sections easily. But when it all starts to gel expect another 15-20% within 3-5 months. That's the one that hurts.

[zaphod]

There's one being installed in our office and it is hoped that it will be up and running in either April or May.The question of how this will affect jobs and overtime is being branded about.Anyone know of any answers?

From what I've been told expect to lose 20% of flat hours from the moment they turn it on. You'll probably have that amount of flexibility to absorb them into other sections easily. But when it all starts to gel expect another 15-20% within 3-5 months. That's the one that hurts.

Yes we had that waffle. It's nonsense. You will be receiving more flats from offices that do not have the machine. For example, Bristol deals with some of the South Coast's flats. As the machine gets older, the more rejects it spouts. We have IIRC around 30 manual flat frames now being utilised, significantly more than there was before the machine came in, and the extra workload it brought.

The machine creates more manual work - end of. Flats have to be hand-stamped, too. They did not want to fit that option to our machine, although it could have been.

HTH

[mal]

Zaphod,were any duties lost due to this machine going in to your office?

[zaphod]

Nope, not in our office. In fact more duties were brought in. The Machine itself needs operatives, as well as getting people onto the manual sorting frames.

HTH

[mal]

Cheers Zaphod.Are there any other MC's that have these machines in ,we've been told that they are a duty killer and could mean the loss of up to 52 f/time duties .

[dvbuk55]

I thought that.We are always being told that with all this new technology one day there will be zero rejects.Never.

Well here's a couple from the past:

The mail will be ready on your frame it will just need delivering. We currently manually sort for 1 hr 45 minutes - it used to be 45 minutes

And with the advent of the Internet: there will be thousands of job losses. There was probably 100 duties then and something like 160 now.

Geo route is going to address sort the mail - yes of course it is BUT will that be before or after the walk sorted mail is actually walk sorted?

Still that's the problem when you employ mystic Meg.

[farin]

I've worked on the fsm too.. the rejects it spits out has to be seen (they get sent to our op for manual sorting ). does'nt like plastic as it wears the belts smooth quickly also.. ours needs 10 operators to cover the 4 feeder stations, 4 on the lanes & 2 on the loading, we also have a manager & a dedicated engineer + a guy doing the trannying of the yorks from the other areas bringing the flats to the fsm during the shift..

the fsm stops quite a lot too ( jams, ink, faulty trays, recycling ) etc.. ours is french with siemens software running it.. Officially called ( The Tops 2000 Machine).. Takes up a big area within the mail centre too.. most of our trouble comes from the label printing machine, as it jams constantly & the sensor throws a wobbly & stops the tray.

But all in all it's nothing to fear.

[oldrope]

can anyone tell me some things about the fsm?
(1) do the staff rotate evry 10k/30mins
(2)are shifts in a rota
(3)are they a good a job as the imps are
(4) are the same ppl on all the time or diffrent evry week
(5) how long is the training...

Thanx

[zaphod]

can anyone tell me some things about the fsm?
(1) do the staff rotate evry 10k/30mins
(2)are shifts in a rota
(3)are they a good a job as the imps are
(4) are the same ppl on all the time or diffrent evry week
(5) how long is the training... [

As far as our mail centre is concerned;
1. No. They are where they are all day.
2. No
3. No
4. Same people all the time.
5. What training?

HTH

[oldrope]

thanx zaphod

[farin]

can anyone tell me some things about the fsm?
(1) do the staff rotate evry 10k/30mins
(2)are shifts in a rota
(3)are they a good a job as the imps are
(4) are the same ppl on all the time or diffrent evry week
(5) how long is the training...

Thanx

here's what the Edinburgh MC do on flats..

1. rotate every 2 hours back & forward from feeding the machine, then to the lanes.
2. same shift pattern. i.e you stay on early, late or nightshift. (late work 2-10 Mon - Friday)
3. depends on your point of view of how imps were...
4. it's a "duty", so the same people are on shift as a team, apart from sickness/ holidays etc...
5. Ours was 3 day's.. lots of power point & a couple of vids, most covered the naming of the operational parts of the machine really.. tud, feeder, lanes etc, plus some tpm training..

Farin..