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Pictured are Excel employees learning
to safely and efficiently operate their new system.
Standing on the left, back of the photo is Cisco-Eagle's
James Murphy, and on the right, Donald Prater. |
FEBRUARY 2002: Cisco-Eagle and Hytrol recently
provided Systems training to employees of Excel Beef for the new
Dodge City, Kansas facility. The training helped familiarize the
attendees with the operations of their new conveyors and other
material handling equipment. It was held in three shifts, to
ensure that all of the workers had a chance to learn how the
system would affect their jobs, and how to utilize it to
increase productivity.
Three groups of Excel employees attended each
session: Mechanical maintenance, Electrical maintenance, and
operators, with the training tailored to each group.
Cisco-Eagle's Donald Prater covered a detailed
description of operations that defined systems operations for
operators. Drawings were used to walk the operators through each
phase of the system.
Conveyor
terminology was covered by Cisco-Eagle's James Murphy.
Hytrol cut sheets and other materials were provided so the
operators could see the conveyors and familiarize themselves
with them. Prater conducted a session on Safety
next. This included a discussion of the "do's and
don'ts" of working with conveyors. "We covered issues
like lock-out, tag-out when working on conveyors, to recognizing
the warning horns when the system starts up, to the purpose of
e-stops and how to operate them," Prater said. Electrol's
Bruce Shepperd covered the procedures for starting and stopping
the conveyor system. He also covered the PLC logic and
electrical schematics. Hytrol Conveyors'
Ken Maxwell and James Pendergrass conducted an overview of the
installation and provided training manuals for each conveyor
model in the Dodge City system. They discussed which items
require periodic maintenance, and provided other technical tips,
such as how to track belts. Murphy also
brought field kits that contained EZ-Logic
modules and a power supply. Each attendee was able to work
with the modules, and gain instructions from Murphy and Maxwell
on the features and programming methods of EZ logic in hands-on
training. Videos and other multimedia were also utilized in this
training. After the class was completed,
the attendees were walked through the system so that they could
see first-hand what had been discussed in the classroom.
Demonstrations on starting and stopping the system were
provided. Excel Beef provided outstanding
attendance, as each session had 15 to 20 attendees. |
