Bob of Small End (70 page)

“
Can I
have a chair,” asked Gerry.

“
Me
too,” said Lori and Luke.

“
Sure.
They’re stacked at the end of the bench. Help yourself.”

As soon as
everyone was ready Jose pushed the first long block through the
router jig. Bert picked it up and cut it into house blocks dropping
them into a tray where they waited until Gerry picked them up to
sand. After sanding they were put into another tray and were ready
for the first paint coat.

The first
trouble was dust. Ken spotted it as soon as he stood by the first
painting tunnel. He watched for half a minute then said that they’d
have to stop until the problem was fixed. “The blocks waiting to be
painted have dust on them. I’ll have to fix that. Can everybody go
back to the other shop. All except you Gerry. I want you to sand
while we find a way to stop the dust from getting out. Okay?”

“
Sure,”
said Gerry.

“
I like
working on this line,” said Bert, as they were standing up.
“Sitting down makes it much easier on my back.”

Everyone left
except Ken, Bob, Jack and Gerry.

“
Is the
exhaust fan at maximum speed?” asked Bob.

“
Nay,”
answered Jack. “It’s at half. I didn’t know wot to set it
at.”

“
How
many speeds are there?”

“
Five.”

“
Put it
up one Jack and I’ll bend the plastic.”

Even after
increasing the rate to full speed the blocks were still covered
with a film of dust. They all watched Gerry as he repeatedly picked
up one of the cut blocks with his right hand and pushed it into the
plastic-covered sanding booth. He sanded it, then brought it out
with his left hand and put it in the output tray. Eventually Ken
said “It’s mostly coming from you Gerry. Dust falls off your left
hand and gets on to the block when you put it on the output tray.
It’s sticking to the hairs on your hand.”

“
It
might help if he wore gloves,” said Bob.

“
Yes,
though I’ve another idea I’d like to try first. I’ll add a short
plastic extension with an elastic ending to each hand hole and add
a narrow output tunnel. Gerry can put the sanded block in that. The
end of that tunnel will be open so air will enter and suck off any
dust stuck to the block.”

They got busy.
Ken and Jack wired on a new front with two hand entry ports fitted
with short sleeves. Bob built an exit tunnel and fastened it to the
end of the sanding booth and Gerry went to the office and collected
several elastic bands.

Twenty minutes
later Ken and Bob were satisfied. The blocks were sanded as well as
they had ever been and there was next to no dust on the sanded
blocks, even when they reduced the exhaust fan’s speed to half.
They decided to run a strip of metal along the base of the output
trough so the blocks would slide out better but left that to be
done later.

Bob went back
to the workshop and asked everybody to return to the Centre for
another try. Production continued, making modifications whenever
needed, one being that they could lower the heat on each tunnel and
the paint still dried.

“
I’m
glad we were able to do that. I was worried about over-heating the
shop in the summer,” said Ken. “Bending in the ends makes a lot of
difference. What do you think about the way these blocks look now
Bob?”

“
The
paint job’s excellent. I’m surprised that it dries so quickly. It’s
both the warmth and the air flow that makes the difference I
suppose. It all seems okay to me Ken.”

“
I think
it is. We’ll have to look at the gluing and assembly operations
next. Once they’re sorted we’ll work on production speed. It’ll be
a week or more before we approach our final rate. But, even now, I
guess it’ll be four times faster than what we have in the old
shop.”

“
Yes, it
probably is,” Bob said.

“
Well
it’s time for lunch,” said Ken. “we’ll have another go after lunch.
I won’t need you this afternoon Jack. Can you come tomorrow? Just
the morning I think.”

“
Aye,
wot time?”

“
No
hurry, about nine is okay.”

During the
afternoon everyone tried each station. By four thirty, having
missed the afternoon’s tea break, Ken told every one to stop.

“
Thank
you everybody. You’ve done a great job today. We’ll pack up now and
have another go sometime tomorrow. Think about what we’re doing
overnight and let me know if you see anyway to improve
things.”

Craig gave a
cheer for some reason and everybody responded by cheering a second
time. Then all but Bob and Ken left. They looked at each other,
pulled out a couple of chairs and sat down.

“
Now we
have the beginnings of a factory Bob. With this we’ll make enough
money to repay our investments in a couple of months I think. Then,
even without a second line, we’ll make a fortune.”

“
It’s
still unbelievable to me Ken. From a hobby that earned me no more
than three or four thousand pounds a year to this. I can’t quite
see how it all happened. None of it would exist without you
though.”

“
Nor
without you Bob. We did it together. Pretty soon we can relax. I
know I will. By the end of next week, if the new workers are okay
and everything goes well, I’ll start thinking about my
holidays.”

“
They’re
not until September Ken. Why not take some time off before
then?”

“
I think
I might. After things settle down. Craig can look after things and
you’d be here too, that is, if you wanted to be.”

“
Yes.
Talking about holidays Ken reminds me that I want to visit my aunt
this weekend. Can we drive to Basingstoke in separate cars then I
could go on and you could return. It would save me three or four
hours if we did that.”

“
Of
course. It looks as if there won’t be anything to do here so Mary
and I might go to London for the night. I’ll talk to her. Okay you
drive yourself and we’ll meet at the warehouse.”

“
Good,
thanks.”

“
Tomorrow I’m going to glue a few train parts, pig pens and
the large houses before anyone comes in to see if I can think of a
quicker way to do it. I can see we’ll need more shelves to put the
trays on while the glue sets. Jack’ll make them. Do you want to
help?”

“
Yes of
course. At eight, then.”

There
was a letter from Maria on the floor when Bob arrived. In it she
said how much she had enjoyed the weekend and how she was looking
forward to the next one. “And here’s my poem. ‘
I’m here. I’ll come
.’ Do you like it? And it’s
shorter than yours!” Bob didn’t have to think about his answer; he
liked it.

After supper
he called Sally and asked if he could visit her this Saturday and
Sunday.

“
Of
course you can Bob. I’ll reserve the visitors room for you. What
time will you get here?”

“
Probably in the middle of the afternoon. I have a meeting in
the morning. And we can go somewhere nice for supper.”

“
No I
don’t think so Bob. I’m not able to get out of my wheelchair
without a lot of difficulty now. We’ll have supper here. I think
you’ll like it.”

“
All
right Sally.”

A loud bell
interrupted Ken, Jack and Bob at eight thirty Friday morning.
“There’s some un at t‘back door,” said Jack.

“
It must
be the wood,” said Ken. “I’d forgotten it was coming this
morning.”

They helped
the driver unload, putting the wood into the stock room racks then
returned to the bench. Jack was making a set of shelves that would
be screwed onto the centre of the far end of the bench. Bob took
pieces from the end tray and glued them together while Ken watched
and offered suggestions. They continued until ten then walked over
for tea. On the way Ken said “I’m not happy about how we glue. It
takes too long. We either need a faster-drying glue or more space
to hold the drying trays. Trouble is, we don’t have enough space
for more racks.”

“’
Ow
abat contact cement Ken,” said Jack. “I use it, but s’easy ter make
mistakes wiv it.”

“
Yes I
know,” answered Ken. “There has to be something else.”

“
We
could ask the others if they know of anything,” said
Bob.

“
Oh,
Jack, I won’t need you for the rest of the day. You’re keeping a
list of the hours you’re working?”

“
Aye.”

“
Well,
have tea with us before going. You might have more good
ideas.”

When they
explained the problem no one knew much about glues. Lori said she
had an aunt who did a lot of craft work. “She often uses glues.
I’ll see if she knows of anything.”

After tea they
took up the same positions in the line that they had Thursday
afternoon and started churning out toys. Ken walked backwards and
forwards along the line and took notes. They changed positions
every half hour, stopped for lunch and continued afterwards until
everyone had tried each position at least once. They stopped at
three and returned to the workshop for their tea break.

“
Does
everybody feel they could teach the newcomers how to operate the
line now? Ken asked.”

There was a
general nodding of heads.

“
It’s
interesting but I think it will become a bit boring after a while,”
said Jose. “Although it’s nice to sit on a chair it’s working with
each part of the operation that I like best. I wouldn’t want to
just sand or paint every day of the week.”

“
No, nor
would I,” said Bert.

“
Do most
of you think that way?” asked Ken.

There was more
head-nodding.

“
Then
how about changing places every week?”

“
It’d be
better to change places every day.”

“
Changing could be done easily,” said Ken.”

“
Of
course, all the new people would have to know how each job was
done,” said Craig.

“
Okay,
we’ll do it. Now how about training them, how should we do that?”
asked Ken.

“
Like
you did with us,” said Bert. “You or someone walk them along the
line explaining what happens at each place then let them try
it.”

“
But all
of us already knew what had to be done,” said Jose. “The new-comers
won’t know that.”

“
Then
how about if we sat in each position and completed each operation
slowly and answered questions as they watched,” said Lori. “They
could see the whole line working and it would be easy to understand
why and how things were being done.”

“
What do
you all think about that?” asked Ken.

“
Sounds
like a good idea,” said Craig.

“
Yes
that would be fine,” added Jose.

“
Okay.
Then that’s what we’ll do. We’ll pack-up now. Next week come here
as usual because this is where the newcomers will come. We’ll
introduce ourselves and then take them to the Centre and start
teaching them.”

“
Will
they come here for tea Ken?” asked Craig.

“
Er,
will there be tea, coffee and biscuits at the new place,
Lori?”

“
They
said they’d deliver at nine. Someone will have to be there to put
the milk in the fridge. I’ll do that if you like. I know what’s
coming. But I’ll need a door key to let myself in.”

“
Here,
have mine,” said Bob. “Keep it and have four more cut over the
weekend, can you? You and Craig should both have a key
now.”

“
All
right. Thanks.”

“
Then
we’ll all have tea at the new shop Monday. Lunch as well,” said
Ken. “And we’ll work out what we do for the rest of the week at the
end of the day.”

Chapter 29 The production line

Bob was the
first to arrive at the wholesaler’s warehouse. He parked the car in
the road near the side road that led to the entrance gates and
waited for Ken. He arrived ten minutes later and parked behind the
Vauxhall. Bob got out and found Mary in the driving seat.

“
You’re
looking nice Mary. Are you coming to the meeting too?”

“
No I’m
going to have breakfast and maybe walk around the town, in the old
part, next to the town hall. When do you want me back
Ken?”

“
Thirty
minutes should be enough Mary.”

“
I won’t
get much of a walk then. All right. I’ll park here when I come
back. I don’t suppose the guards will let me go inside.”

“
Okay.”

Ken got into
Bob’s car and they drove to the gates. They told the guard who they
were and were told to park the car in the small visitor’s lot then
walk to Dave Posser’s office, “it’s the corner office.” They found
the door, knocked and entered. The man sitting behind a desk stood
up.

“
Hello.
I’m Dave Posser. You must be Mr. Barns and Mr. Smith. Welcome
to
We-Have-It Wholesalers
.
Have a seat. Would you like a coffee?” They both said yes and he
pressed buttons on a machine on the cabinet behind his desk and, a
minute later, handed each of them a mug.