Business Agent Dennis

Byers. “When it comes to

dealing with Larsen and
Shaw there’s not a heck of a lot I
haye to do.”

Labour relations in the Walker-
ton, Ontario hinge and fixture plant
couldn’t be better.

“There is without a doubt a very
postive relationship that the crew

as built with the management and
vice versa,” says Brother Byers.
“The workers get pions very well
with the employer and problems
that come up are talked out and
solved before they take place.”

In fact, in the past 12 years, Byers
has only handled two grievances.

“I wish all of our other operations
were like this one,” he adds.

The company has been in busi-
ness for over 80 years, situated in
the farming community of Walker-
ton and was historically linked to
the once burgeoning furniture busi-
ness that existed in and around
Hanover, which is where Local 500’s
headquarters is still situated today.
In the 1950’s the local union had
over 800 workers in the furniture
industry in Hanover alone. There
was Knecthel’s Furniture, Pepplar
Furniture, Simmons furniture,
Hanover Kitchens and smaller oper-
ations which were only 10 kilome-
ters from Walkerton.

Those large furniture plants are
gone and only Hanover Kitchens
remains. Through all of the changes
that have taken place over the
decades, the Larsen and Shaw oper-
ation remains a strong and viable
operation.

“The workers compete with plants
that are mostly in the United States
in southern states like Missouri
where labour rights are trampled
upon,” says Local President Bruce
Weber.

“And they can beat their competi-
tion because of the high quality
products that they put out. Our
members are highly skilled and
earn a living wage in the operation.”

The plant employs its own tool
and die makers who can help set up
the machinery to fabricate a wide
variety of hinges.

Plant chairman Rick Wells says
that “over the years you keep
redefining what you need and
upgrade your materials and your
tooling — and the end results show
up.” At the plant’s receiving bay,
coils of plain or coloured metals are
received along with carriers of wire

(¢ ’m kind of like the Maytag
repair man,” says Local 500

which are used for pins in the
hinges. Then the materials are fed
into 10 primary production lines
and 20 secondary presses.

The basic process for automatic
hinge making is that they are cut
from coils, are straightened,
blanked, curled and assembled with
pins and plated. Many of the lines
have automatic pin assemblers.

On the secondary line a series of
presses make butt hinges and small

inges from small parts that are
blanked out of automatic presses.
The small components are repeti-
tiously fed in by hand.

To guard the workers’ hands, a
“possum pullback” system is used to
keep fingers away from the presses
pinch point when the ram goes
down. No matter what happens, the
workers hand will be 3” from the
ram if the hand harnesses are prop-
erly adjusted. Hearing, eye and foot
protection are also safety priorities
in the plant.

Brother Wells says that operator
will switch presses to rotate jobs
but, as a rule, do finish the press
run that they are on first.

The I.W.A. has stuck with hourly
rates of pay and has avoided the
piece work incentive system in the
plant.

“In here there are too many vari-
ables which can effect somebody
working on piece rate,” adds Wells.
“It could work on some machines
and not others. To keep things fair
we decided a long time ago that
things work best when we keep
them on an hourly rate.”

It is a high-speed operation where
there is an emphasis on quality.

Quality control specialist Jean
Hedley, who serves on the plant
committee with Brother Wells, Herb
Dirstein and Glen Wilhelm, says
that quality control is one of the
keys to remaining competitive and
ranks in importance with price com-
petitiveness and just-in-time deliv-
ery.
The sampling frequency that is
done depends on the product.

“If there’s something where
there’s potential for problem, we
keep a closer eye on it,” she says.

Nearly two years ago the plant
was certified to ISO 9002, which is
designed to improve quality all
through the operation.

“I think it has helped to make the
employees more aware of the impor-
tance of quality and has also
brought them together working
towards a common goal,” she adds.

In addition all raw materials from

e John Schlosser hangs hinges on rack prior to automatic plating process.

Hinge plant one of Local 500’s b

:

i =.
oS
L > en,

the production processes are recy-
cled.

After the hinges are assembled,
they are plated.

The plant has two fully auto-
mated lines: one is a line platin;
process, and the other is a barre!
plating process.

The company uses nickel, brass,
zinc, copper and natural black
among 10 different types of plating
options.

On both the line and barrel plat-
ing circuits, the hinges are racked,
cleansed of grease and oil,

e Small press operator Tom Weaver with “possum pullback” protection device.

[aeres 34
e Local 500 member

Lat ot

and press operator Jim Nelson with spooled steel. —

cleansed in water and acid, plated,
dried and packaged.

_The line-circuit deals with long
hinges and the barrel line handles
small hinges in large numbers. The
small hinges are later packaged by
weight and shipped.

About 15% of the workforce has
trade skills. There are tool and die
makers, welders, machinists and
journeyman trades in the plant.

Wages range from $12.50 an hour
for a production worker to $17.00
for tradespersons. a

16/LUMBERWORKER/SEPTEMBER, 1999