Training Your Team for Footwear Making Machine

The industry has grown over the years, therefore technology advances in the production of footwear, due to enhancing and improving machinery. However, to leverage this technology, a crucial element comes into play – training your team. The benefits of the training include making the probabilities of your team using the machinery safely high, increasing the amount of output produced by the team and also facilitating the provision of high quality output. BSM India today features the processes and tips on how to train your team on how to use footwear making machine correctly.

Understand How the Machine Works

Knowledge regarding the type of footwear making machine to be used should be imprinted in both trainers as well as the team before any practical training commences. Footwear-making machines are highly specialized and can include components like:

• Leather and fabric cutting machines with accurate cutting edges.
• Sewing machines to join the parts of the footwear together.
• Sustainable tools that adjust and stitch the material in order to create the shoe using a last or the model upon which the shoe is built.
• Cutting off machines for minimizing the excess material and the buffing and polishing machines.
• Since each machine is different with their own features and capabilities, the training process has to begin with an explanation of how the machinery work, and what they are made of, and relative to this, what they can be used for.

Tip: Develop type of manuals or guides that capture every activity of the machine. This can be achieved through use of graphics, diagrams, work-flow and even videos as some of the instructions as displayed in the videos are very detailed.

Safety Training Comes First

It is a rather dangerous process because it deals with numerous parts of the machinery for making footwear, many of which are sharp or heavy. And so, safety is the number one indicator on the measures that are used in a particular country. Employment of right safety training provides ways and means of minimizing accidents to the lowest possible level, thus making the area secure. Key safety areas to cover include:

• Personal Protective Equipment (PPE): Explain to employees which PPE should be used for which machines, for example, glasses, gloves, or ear muffs.
• Machine Guarding: Check that every individual in the team is totally informed about the functioning of the machine guards or any other security equipment to protect them from getting injured.
• Emergency Stops: Teach the operators on how they can use the emergency stop buttons or safety levers in order to stop the machine during a breakdown.
• Lockout/Tagout Procedures: These procedures are necessary to safely service/maintain the machines in hope of making sure these machines are well shut down and cannot be started up again during repairs.

It follows that safety training should be sufficient and uniform. This should be done when new machines or technology is brought in, and also from time to time when everyone should be refreshed on the activities necessary to maintain hygiene standards.

Hands-on Training and Demonstration

It may be impossible to overemphasize practice as the best way to teach your team the proper use of new footwear making machine. That is why it is imperative to act in a stepwise order in order to not trigger any unwanted reactions. Describe each part of the machine and how it operates: Then show the trainees the role they play in the production process. Key steps in hands-on training:

• Step-by-Step Guidance: Break the process and try to understand it in terms of its constituent elements. It is good to let each team member join the process and view it several times before practicing it.
• Supervised Practice: After the team members are acquainted with the process they should be allowed to run the machine under supervision. This stage also enables them to become more acquainted with the machine though they have a tutor who will help them correct mistakes.
• Feedback and Adjustment: Tell the operators to make some queries and offer their opinions where and when possible during the training. This sort of feedback may identify areas where either the employee or manager has not fully understood issues or may indicate where additional development may be needed by the employee.
• Repetition for Mastery: Make sure that every team member gets enough machine practice for him to grow familiar and skilled with it. The only way to make sure that the reinforcement is efficient is to make sure that there is practice in the reinforcement that is done.

Conclusion

Educating your team how to run footwear-making machines is more of a repetitive process than a single process. Consequently, safety and actual hands-on learning and development from the start can significantly improve the performance of your workforce as well as the machines you employ. Last but not least, qualified operators are the drivers for achieving top performance, quality and success of the footwear manufacturing business. To buy your footwear making machine now, visit BSM India!