ECN Forum
Posted By: scameron81 gang box clutter - 09/30/05 02:51 AM
I can't take it anymore. Every time I go to the gang box it looks like the wholesale exploded and they shoveled all the parts into our gang box. If I clean it up the guys all have it trashed again in the first couple of hours.

This is a widespread problem at the shop I currently work at, nobody seems to care, but I hate it and it is so ineffecient. It seems like I have to dig through 10 boxes just to get one little stinkin part.

I was wondering if anybody out there has any tips for conquering the nightmare in the gang box?
Posted By: Electric Eagle Re: gang box clutter - 09/30/05 02:55 AM
We have the same problem on our trucks. I pay someone to organize the trucks and restock, then in less than a week they are completely trashed and missing 1/4 of the base stock. I've yet to find a good incentive to make the guys keep the truck organized. Any sugestions?
Posted By: LK Re: gang box clutter - 09/30/05 03:18 AM
The best method i have seen was my first boss, he gave us 15 minutes at the end of the day to put the truck in order, miss once you got a warning, miss twice written warning miss the third time, pick up your check and good luck.
Posted By: Steve Miller Re: gang box clutter - 09/30/05 06:59 PM
We always alternated by the week. Each week a different person was responsible for the box. It rotated among everybody except the guy in charge of the job(J workers, apprenticeses made no diff). On small jobs it was mine every 3rd week or so and on bigger jobs it may have been every 5th or 6th week. If you called in sick you owed somebody a day. If it was a short week you lucked out.
Posted By: GA76JW Re: gang box clutter - 09/30/05 08:02 PM
I can sympathize with anyone who gets stuck with this duty. As an apprentice I have spent a good many hour cleaning up the gangbox after people who really just don't care.

It is very sad to see grown men just throw things in there and not try to sort when they can clearly see that it was just cleaned.

Unfortunately we do not have any plans into effect to curb this behavior.
Posted By: togol Re: gang box clutter - 09/30/05 08:14 PM
wow, first a brand new apprentice and now this.
On Monday before everyone goes to work,
let everyone know that until the gang box mess is straightened out...... breaks and lunches will be .............(fill -in the blank ), and no one will leave the job until all tools are back in their respective cases with all accessories !
At the end of the day , you take all of the empty cases and lay them out on the floor ,so no one has difficulty finding an empty !
Your problem may not even appear on Monday PM

the quicker stuff gets put away, the sooner you cut 'em loose
Posted By: iwire Re: gang box clutter - 09/30/05 08:45 PM
togol you are not suggesting that you withhold breaks or make people stay late unpaid are you?

Here that would not play well at all besides being against the law you might find yourself in the gang box trying to cut your way out. [Linked Image]
Posted By: Jps1006 Re: gang box clutter - 09/30/05 09:00 PM
I see no problem with holding what is owed to the employees in exchange for what is owed to the job. Unfortunalty it is an entitlement mentality that feeds the idea that some tasks are below some people.
Posted By: Cow Re: gang box clutter - 09/30/05 11:22 PM
The job I'm on right now has all the parts on pallets so they are easily movable. The only things that go in the gang box are the plans and miscellaneous tools that stay at the jobsite. I would hate to store parts in a gangbox, I think we have about 6 pallets with parts on them. I can't imagine having to look through a bunch of gang boxes for a certain part.
Posted By: scameron81 Re: gang box clutter - 09/30/05 11:27 PM
Thanks for all your responses guys. It gets even better too. This job that I am on now is one that was just taken over this last week because the guy out there running screwed everything up. So right now we are in the rescue and recovery mode. The guy running the job before (and I use the term loosely)ordered so much stinkin material that you could probably wire two more entire wineries with all the material. But on the bright side there is never a dull moment.
Posted By: trollog Re: gang box clutter - 09/30/05 11:41 PM
Well, live and learn... and sometimes learn what NOT to do.. [Linked Image] On another note, gangbox clutter never really bugged me, so long as the tool/part is actually in the box... I accept that a moderate amount of entropy is just part of the trade and shrug my shoulders. Ironic too, because I am super anal with my private things and in my private life, but I have just learned to check that part of my personality at the door in a effort to get along.. what bugs me more are the "tool hoarders" who take off with all the tools to their little corner of the job.
Posted By: togol Re: gang box clutter - 10/01/05 11:14 AM
iwire ,
no I'm not suggesting that any one stay past quitting time, I'm not suicidal .... I want to go home too .

breaks and lunch on my jobs are VERY
comfortable and Fridays are E.Q.

I won't put up with a few things, and gang boxes from hell is on the list.

For those times when I am not running work , I expect the same treatment ....

I would rather take 1 minute to put the drill back in the box and keep my break ....

I don't think it unreasonable to shorten up a break or lunch to get my point across, and for the most part things are pretty casual

I will tell the guys what I don't like...
if it's getting out of control, and let them deal with the offender. if it continues, I tried to be reasonable...I didn't want to do it.

Just work thru the day and let's all go home..... that's all
Posted By: togol Re: gang box clutter - 10/01/05 11:22 AM
Iwire,
I worked for a shop that had a foreman who WAS locked in the box and tossed down 2 flights of stairs, ...after he got out of the hospital he retired to an remote spot way up Norf ...in da U.P.

..not all my stories have sad endings!!

hahahahaha
Posted By: iwire Re: gang box clutter - 10/01/05 11:22 AM
Quote
I don't think it unreasonable to shorten up a break or lunch to get my point across, and for the most part things are pretty casual

That depends, do you mean shorten up lunch and break times that are usually run longer than required or do you mean shorting up the lunch to less than the required time.

Where I am we do not pay the employees for the 30 minute lunch and we have no right to tell them what to do during that time.

The minimum break times are mandated by law and we could get into serious problems with the labor board if we do not allow the required break time.

To each their own, I like a neat gang box but I will not kill moral by cutting into the employees time to maintain it.

I clean it myself or grab someone I see 'slacking' to do it. [Linked Image]

Bob
Posted By: iwire Re: gang box clutter - 10/01/05 11:29 AM
Quote
I see no problem with holding what is owed to the employees in exchange for what is owed to the job.

Whatever we feel does not matter.

The law is pretty strict on what you can and can not do to an employee.

If you have a bad employee withholding their benefits could land you in court, cost you plenty and be a windfall to the bad employee.

The thing to do is what LK said, written warnings than the door.
Posted By: togol Re: gang box clutter - 10/01/05 01:14 PM
iwire,
I thought I made it clear that my breaks and lunch ARE longer than required,
and on Fridays we all go home EARLY,
by at least 1/2 hour.
There are no statutes here for a " break " but lunch is by law only 30 minutes , and lets be honest, who would work on a job where there were no breaks ?..typically on my jobs "breaks " last about 1/2hr. and lunch can be 45 minutes or more.....that is a lot of XTRA time, don't you agree?
Is it wise to take something away ......... not always,
that depends on the situation ...... but everyone assumes they WILL get a break and a lunch, ......the rules, with minor variations( such as mine ) are the same throughout the jurisdiction. I don't want someone telling me what to do during my lunch either, but the way the laws are now if a hand comes back from lunch drunk are even slightly intoxicated , they could be terminated ! and that litle gem is in the agreement . Does it happen ? I've never seen it ,.. can it happen ? most definitely.

I have been a JW, Steward , Foreman , Gen Foreman for 34 years, and a lot of us bounce in and out of the same jobs , so why tick someone off that may be running the next job?


PS how do I change my profile???

[This message has been edited by togol (edited 10-01-2005).]
Posted By: togol Re: gang box clutter - 10/01/05 02:52 PM
..Oooops , I found the profile edit .
Posted By: Tiger Re: gang box clutter - 10/01/05 05:07 PM
I like your interests togol. Welding inside a container that's been out in the sun on a hot day is pretty sweet too.

Dave
Posted By: togol Re: gang box clutter - 10/01/05 05:55 PM
Yup ,it helps pass the time, hahahaha
I see you are nearby, Dave

Tom

[This message has been edited by togol (edited 10-01-2005).]
Posted By: ShockMe77 Re: gang box clutter - 10/02/05 02:52 AM
If I could just add to this thread. I used to work for a company years ago where we'd do alot of travelling from job to job and were often told to "take lunch" while in the truck and in transit to the next job. What a joke. That used to really tick me off.
Posted By: togol Re: gang box clutter - 10/02/05 03:21 AM
so did you play nice and follow the rules?
Posted By: Joey D Re: gang box clutter - 10/02/05 07:24 PM
Pull the gang box off the job and load and unload the tools and stuff everyday. Do this until someone says," where is the gang box" then let them know why it was pulled off the job.
Or go nuts and tip the box over everytime you need to find something and then use a shovel to load it back up and deal with it.
Posted By: Alan Belson Re: gang box clutter - 10/02/05 07:42 PM
togol.
Profile: Exploratory surgury???!!


"Sorry Mr. Cakeworthy, you need a new 200A service here, but the good news is your bile-duct is just fine and dandy!"

Alan

Edit. I follow a lot of posts with interest, but sometimes the meanings get lost crossing the pond. What is a "gang-box"?
Alan

[This message has been edited by Alan Belson (edited 10-02-2005).]
Posted By: iwire Re: gang box clutter - 10/02/05 07:52 PM
Quote
bile-duct

I have read literally tens of thousands of electrical forum posts, I have to say this has to be the first one to use the term bile-duct. [Linked Image]
Posted By: Jps1006 Re: gang box clutter - 10/02/05 08:23 PM
Joey D, sometimes you just got to go nuts to get the point across. I think you have offered the best solution yet. (I had to laugh imagining what that would sound like, right down to the last washer rolling to a stop)

Alan, these are gang boxes: http://edev.colorassociates.com/greenlee/storage.pdf
Posted By: togol Re: gang box clutter - 10/02/05 08:30 PM
Alan, gangbox is where all tools (contractor and sometimes personal)are locked up for the evening ..

as for exploratory surgery.....I want ot work on a doctors house , and not be able to "exactly "pinpoint what the problem is.......lets see ,you say the light doesn't work?
Well I think you may need your attic wiring completely ripped out..oh ! that didn't do it ? well , maybe you need a new service? still not working ? hmmm...we are going to need more tests... I'm still not convinced the light bulb is bad...you know... practice
Posted By: Alan Belson Re: gang box clutter - 10/02/05 09:26 PM
The idea of a communal box for everyones' stuff wouldn't appeal to me. Most crafstmen I know, ( including me! ), seem to work best and glory in clutter and utter disorder, ( and the immpecably neat-guys seem to eventually turn out to be either anal, slightly nuts or useless), but at least you know your screwdriver is under that particular pile of crap when you're scratching in your own dung-heap. Bear with me here, guys, I'm fast runnin' outa alalogies!

togol. Good analogy on the surgery! That would be like a decorator painting a gynacologist's hall though the letterbox.
Or would that be irony?

Alan
edit for grammar.

[This message has been edited by Alan Belson (edited 10-02-2005).]
Posted By: iwire Re: gang box clutter - 10/02/05 09:41 PM
Alan each company is different but where I work it is against the rules to store personal tools in the gang box.

Primarily the gang box is for company tools, paper work and small expensive supplies that tend to grow legs and walk off the job. [Linked Image]

Bob
Posted By: renosteinke Re: gang box clutter - 10/02/05 10:31 PM
Consider the messy gang box as a symptom, not the problem itself.

I have been on 70-electrician jobs where the parts trailer and gang boxes were always reasonably orderly.

I have been on 5-man jobs where you couldn't find daylight at high noon!

Care to guess which job had the poor morale, and management issues? The messy one. And, it was this messy job where the foreman took liberties with work hours, breaks, and other labor rules.

So- I suspact that messy boxes are the result of poor leadership in most cases. In the few remaining, just look for that ONE guy who's a pig, who likes making a mess for everyone else, who says 'hooray for me and fie on all others!"- and fire the sod!.
Posted By: togol Re: gang box clutter - 10/03/05 10:52 AM
Iwire,
we have the same uses as you for the gangboxes, and, while there is nothing prohibiting someone from leaving his tools ...there is usually more than one box .....
if they get pilfered, there is no replacement by the contractor ....
some folks are more comfortable with the risk than others....I take mine home every night
Posted By: resqcapt19 Re: gang box clutter - 10/03/05 11:22 AM
Our contractors are required to provide lockable onsite storage for personal tools. In most cases this is a gang box.
Don
Posted By: AllClear Re: gang box clutter - 10/07/05 04:23 AM
Renosteinke, I agree with you
Usually it has more to do with who is running the job.
Mostly we take 15 minutes at the end of the day to clean everything up and put things away. Sizable jobs get 2 gang boxes, one for tools and suppies And the other for all of the parts. The parts gangbox has alot of trays so most everything has it's proper place. If it doesn't have a proper place then nobody can put it where it belongs.
Everybody cleans the last 10-15 minutes not just the new guys. I think that makes a big difference for us

Justin
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