Day 4 on second shift and I’m bouncing between the CNC lathe and the press brake, trying to soak up everything without slowing anyone down. For folks who started in manufacturing recently, how did you get hands-on practice and ask to shadow while staying strict on lockout/tagout and PPE, especially before your first solo setup?
On second shift I asked my lead to block 10 minutes at handoff for a “dry run” — we’d LOTO the CNC lathe and I’d practice the motions on scrap so I wasn’t learning live; it feels slow, but it made my first solo setup faster. I also kept a pocket card of our LOTO/PPE checks and had them initial it that first week. Would a quick press brake dry run before “your first solo setup” fly with your supervisor?
Ask for group LOTO on the press brake; add your lock and use ‘jog-only’.