Sleds in Waco 12.17.14

 

                This old work memory occurred at the Waco Center, way back in the early 80s. As I began to relate this story, I found it necessary to expand the accounting back to late 1978, at the now decommissioned, Cape Girardeau Center.   As with many of my stories, it is true.

The Waco Distribution Center had finally been completed and the inbound freight was coming in. (In those days the buildings were called Distribution Centers, because we stocked and distributed merchandise to the Coop. stores. Now these buildings are called Retail Service Centers, they still distribute merchandise to the Coop. stores.)

                Our Waco team had been involved, not in the construction but in the detailing of the entire center. When I say detailing, I am talking about placing location tags, on all the home locations so we would be able to properly place each of 32,000 items when they arrived. Our team also verified that the home locations were the correct size. There were other tags and signs such as, overstock location numbers, aisle, section and direction of travel signs.

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                Let me back pedal a little to provide a little history which may help you understand the process. In 1978 I was a supervisor at the Cape Girardeau D/C. I was approached by upper management and asked if I would consider moving to Waco Texas for the opening of the new Distribution Center. This Center was in the final planning stage at this time.  Upper management then approached Lonnie and asked if he would also move to Waco for the opening of this Center. We both received approval from our wives to the move, and that is when our work began.

                Lonnie and I were not responsible for deciding what departments would go where in the new Waco Center, but we were responsible for locating each of the 32,000 plus SKUs (SKU = Stock Keeping Units, these centers have double that amount of SKUs now).

The Waco center was going to be 300,000 sq. ft. in size. Lonnie and I started the process of locating the SKUs alone in what was a large closet above the Cape office (this paperwork was also known to us who were doing the work as drawings). After a couple weeks we began to get additional help from staff at the Cape center and moved the work into a meeting room.  

                Each item that we located on the drawings also had to be written up on a location change form. Even though we weren’t changing locations we were making new locations and these had to be entered into the computer system.

There were also discontinued items, and new items that had to be added to or taken from these drawings. When a new item was to be added, let’s say a hammer, we would need to find where we had place the other hammers from this vendor, and then locate the new item with the similar items. That was a time consuming part of the process and occasionally there did not seem to be room for the SKU. 

                The computer would generate location tags. We had a folder for each side of each aisle in the Center, there were well over 1,000 location folders. The location tags were placed in each folder along with the location change forms and the drawing for that side of that aisle.

Lonnie and I were asked to decide whether we wanted a Tow Line in the Waco Center, or not. A Tow Line is an electric motor driven chain, that is in a slot in the cement floor and the carts would attach to the chain and be pulled around the building. Everywhere the tow line went, and all the diverters, took a 6 foot wide aisle. There would be diverters strategically located in various areas, allowing the carts to automatically divert from the main track to stocking, receiving or shipping locations. The area of the main track and the diverters could not be used for anything other than Tow Line Carts. 

Lonnie and I had worked with the tow line at Cape, we decided that we did not want it at Waco, as it took up too much room.

Side note: The tow line was very powerful. I have seen it push a 5,000 pound fork lift sideways and not even strain. The diverters had a safety switch, that when the diverter was full of carts, it would not allow other carts to divert.

It was an accepted practice to allow the tow line to continue to run during breaks and lunch. On one occasion at the Cape center, a couple carts were placed off the track on a diverter area but not properly, so the switch did not shut the diverter off. When we returned from break several carts had diverted on to this area and had pushed the incorrectly placed carts into a section of 15 foot tall rack. These racks were bolted to the floor and they were literally knocked down.

Lonnie and I determined what the work flow was going to be at Waco. We would literally look at the overall drawing of the building which had rack, aisles, cross aisles, rest rooms, offices, shipping doors and receiving doors.

One of us would imagine that we were doing a particular job, and with our finger on the drawing, talk about the flow of the work while the other person looked for correctness, or flaws in our work. We were in complete agreement on the work flow for the new Waco Center before either of us moved from Cape.

Lonnie and I were in such close agreement, that on occasion a staff member at Waco would ask one of us a question, then later ask the other the same question. We were told that we answered the same way and often with the same words and expressions.

Lonnie and I put 6 months in the planning of the new center. There were many other items that we address during this process such as fork lifts, tuggers, office furniture, and file cabinets along with break room furniture. We made plans for the training that staff would need.

I moved to Waco Texas June of 1979 and Lonnie moved a month later.

I have made this almost sound as if it was all Lonnie and my doing but it wasn’t, we followed directions from the Home office and had support from many people throughout HWI.  There were many teams who were all working as a larger team to successfully open the Waco Center.

Now that I look back on this, HWI may have taken a chance on two fairly new, somewhat experienced supervisors to open a new Distribution Center. Yes we had both been involved in the startup of the Cape Center, and I believe more importantly, we were in complete agreement of what we were going to accomplish at the Waco center.

If you are going to open a new center select your management team from people that have been involved in the process previously. Management team must be compatible. Management team must be able to discuss their thoughts, ideas, disagreements, but after these discussions, be in agreement on the entire process.

 

The history lesson is over, back to the story.

                The Waco Team were in the process of stocking the building with six million dollars of merchandise. As you might imagine the truck loads were relentless. The team was unloading, checking, hauling and stocking the product like they had done this for years. 

One particular shipment was of sleds. The lady who was checking them in stopped me as I was walking through receiving and said, “We got some sleds in”!  I said, “Good”, to which she commented, “I had never seen a real sled, in real life before”. 

I was amazed that a woman who was 40 years old, had not seen a sled. It doesn’t snow very often in Waco and when it does it is most often a dusting.  Probably only transplants from states that have snow, would be likely to have a sled.

Along the same subject, a few years later it snowed while we were at work. There was probably 2 inches of snow on the ground (nothing on the pavement) when an employee came to me and asked if they could take a sled from stock, and during lunch go outside to slide down the small hill in front of work (the hill was maybe 30 feet long). I was surprised that there were adults who wanted to slide on a sled for the first time.

Yes they were allowed to get a sled for warehouse use.

                Lonnie was consulted on this article.

Don Ford

 

 

September 11, 2001 by Don Ford

 

                I am sure everyone remembers where they were and what they were doing on Tuesday, September 11^th, 2001.

                A friend suggested I might consider putting my memories of that date and the following days, in an article and post it to the blog.

                It should be understood, I was in New York State but not in New York City.

                I was working at the Do it Best Corp’s Service Center, in Montgomery New York, as interim manager.

Montgomery N. Y. is probably best known for Orange County Choppers, they make chopper motorcycles and had a TV show for a while.

As I am sure most would say, that day seemed to be just like any other day until…

I learned of the attack when a supervisor came into the manager’s office and said, “A plane has crashed into the world trade center”.

                To be totally honest, I had no idea what the world trade center was, until that day, never having been in the City of New York.

One of the supervisors had received a call telling him what had happened saying, that is all that’s on the TV.  

                Shocked by such an event, we wanted to see what was happening. I asked where the TV was located. They did not have a TV in the office or break room.  I knew we stocked some portable TVs so I asked the supervisor to get one out of stock quickly and set it in the break room so everyone can see it during break.

                Not having a TV meant they did not have cable either. We attempted to watch this portable TV with rabbit ears for an antenna. The picture was poor but we could see some of what was happening. I remember as most of us were watching and listening to the announcer, there was little if any conversation in the break room.

                They had a radio in the office which was providing additional information.

Two planes had flown into the world trade center buildings. We now knew these were terrorist attacks. We had also learned there was a third plane that evidently had been hijacked, and they were not sure where it was.

I briefly thought, our building is large, what would we do if the plane decided to crash into it. There was nothing we could do, other than evacuate. If we had no advanced notice that a plane was heading our way we could do nothing preemptive.

Some of the staff members had friends or relatives who worked in those buildings. I remember a couple people asked if they could leave and try to find out if their families were ok.  

The FAA was grounding all flights. Those that were already in the air were instructed to land immediately.

We learned somewhat later that the third plane had crashed in a field with no survivors.

Considering all the tragic events unfolding during the day, the staff at the Montgomery center somehow were able to complete that day’s work. I would say they all should be commended for their ability to stay somewhat focused on their work during that day, and the following days. 

All flights were canceled meaning no civilian planes were flying anywhere and they were not saying when they would be allowed to fly again. This meant all travelers (including me) that were relying on flying to their home destination, were just out of luck.

There was a message sent to DIB travelers stating something to the effect, if you are traveling for the company and have a rental car, you should keep your rental car, do not turn it in. You may be required to drive home.

The rental car I had was a full size boat of a car. Even though the company rented smaller vehicles, occasionally the rental company would be out of the size you had requested and you would get something larger. If I were to need to drive home, it would be a long drive but it would be comfortable.

The New York State police were marshaling in the Stewart / Newburgh area, which is just a few miles from Montgomery and where my hotel was. The state police were gathering here before being dispatched to New York City. It was amazing the number of state police vehicles you would see on the roads. There were literally hundreds of state police vehicles in the area. One evening as I was driving to the hotel there were at least five state police cars in front of me and more than that behind me, while there were others driving on the opposite side of the highway. I felt as if I was the misfit in a parade of police vehicles.

Authorities were considering all terrorist possibilities even to the point of having guards stationed at area water reservoirs.  

Unfortunately, during this time of turmoil, one employee pushed another employee which subjects him to termination. After all the necessary calls to the HR department it was decided to terminate this person. During the time this decision was being made, another staff member told me this person had said, “If they think they are going to terminate me they better have the police here”.  

                Being a person who likes to accommodate the wishes of others, I called the police and explained the situation. They explained that they were very busy, but they would send someone over when we were ready to terminate. I explained that we were ready now. In just a few minutes the officer arrived. I remember this officer as, “a walking mountain”, he was big and strong.

We called the employee to the office. When he arrived, the officer walked up to him, got in the employees face and said, this man has something to tell you, sit down and listen.

The officer turned to me and said go ahead. When I finished, the officer got back in this person’s face again and asked, “Do you understand what this man has told you, will I need to come back? The person replied I understand and you will not need to come back. 

After several days there were a few flights taking to the air. The airport at Stewart where I normally would fly into and out of, was still closed.

I received a call from the home office with instructions to go to the Stewart airport the next morning. When I went to return the rental car there was instructions on the closed gate to take the car several blocks away from the airport. A rental car employee brought me back to the airport.

There was an airport employee who met me and another lady outside the building. We were put in a taxi that drove us to an airport near White Planes N.Y.

I should not have been surprised at the amount of security present. We went through a police road block in which the officer looked through the taxi and the trunk before allowing us to get close to the airport. The two of us got out of the taxi and went into the airport to check in. I checked my suit case for the flight home and they opened it to be sure there was no bombs or weapons.

I always carry a pocket knife and have done so since I was in the third grade. When I flew, I would put the knife in the suit case and check the bag. The fellow opened my bag and saw the knife. He immediately called his supervisor and a police officer to see what he found. They looked at the knife (it wasn’t a small pocket knife) and then looked at me. I said, the bag is checked, is there a problem? As soon as they realized it was a checked bag, they shut it and patted me down, just to be sure I had no other knives and then let me go through security.

There weren’t many travelers in the airport, I assume only people trying to get back home were flying. As I remember it, there was as many, if not more, uniformed officers and soldiers in the airport as there were civilian travelers.

The flight from White Planes to an airport just outside New York City (I can’t remember which airport it was) was very short. As we were beginning to descend to the airport I looked out the window to see the New York sky line, and I thought I might see the remains of the two buildings. I did not see the destruction, what I did see was a military jet plane flying on the right side of our plane. It was a little unsettling to know that he was there to keep our plane away from flying into a building.

We landed safely, I along with the other passengers went into the airport. I found my gate and took a seat. There were National Guard Soldiers and police carrying guns throughout the building. There was no one talking, very little noise of any type, everyone was very sober acting. I sat in my seat the entire time without saying a word.

I am here to tell you, I was more than happy when we boarded the plane heading away from New York. My flight took me through another airport but I can’t remember if it was Philadelphia or Chicago. I can say I was much happier when we were descending to the Dallas airport. All the flights that I took that day were late starting and arriving.

Arriving at the Dallas airport I saw extra security and even though they were on high alert the atmosphere was not as intimidating as the New York air ports.

The flight from Dallas to Waco which only takes about 25 minutes left Dallas after midnight. I arrived in Waco about 1:00am on a Sunday morning. My wife met me at the Waco airport. 

Arriving this late, or early, however you want to look at it, I missed the annual profit sharing meeting. This was the first profit sharing meeting that I had missed during my employment at DIB. I was to receive a service award for thirty years of employment (a ring) at that meeting. My wife accepted the award for me, but it would have been nicer if I could have made it home in time to accept the ring for myself.

                                  

Those are my memories of September 11^th, 2001.

 

 

Don Ford                   

 

 

New York memory

A work memory          by Don Ford

 

                As I sat here at my desk working on another article, an old memory popped into my head, so I decided to put it in a posting.

                At the time of this happening I was manager at the Waco center. The staff at the Waco center were productive in their work and the supervisory staff were very capable of managing the operation without yours truly being on site.

                I believe it had been pointed out to me by a VP (my boss), that the Waco center could operate without a manager. To some, that comment might be daunting, possibly causing the person to think they are not needed. Personally, I took this as a compliment. A manager has done their job when all staff can function without their direct involvement

Anytime a group has been educated (I think educated sounds better than trained) to function proficiently as a team, and to a point that they do not need an “overseer”, (I like that term, it means leader) that means the management team have done their job properly.

I had been asked to fill in as interim manager at the New York center. The previous manager had been transferred and I was to fill in while they found a replacement. This test or challenge, happen during my first time as interim manager at New York. 

I arrived at the center midafternoon.  I said hello to the office staff and supervisors. One of the supervisors was in charge of the alarm system and wanted to set me up with a pass code so I could activate and deactivate the alarms.

It seemed a little unusual to set the new person up with a pass code within the first hour of their arrival, but maybe they do things differently in New York.

I was given a partial guided tour of the center, again this seemed a little odd or rude but possibly the supervisors were busy finishing the day’s work.

I was told of a special order that had been filled, placed on pallets and staged at the drive in door. Someone from the store would be here at the center about 7:00pm to pick it up. I believe there had been some storms and the store needed these supplies.

The day was coming to a close and the hourly staff were leaving and that is when I began to understand why I was given a pass code. The first supervisor came to me saying he had arrived early and was leaving. Each of the other supervisors came to me saying they needed to leave and had reasons why they could not stay to load out the pallets at 7:00pm. I was shown how to turn off the lights in the building.

Everyone was out of the building including the supervisory staff. I did a check of the doors to be sure all were locked, the building was secure.

I went to the manager’s office and caught up on my emails.

The two hours passed quickly.

I had left the front door unlocked so the person picking up the order could get into the lobby. The manager’s office was next to the lobby which allowed me to hear when someone came in.

There was a knocking on the door, it was the store owner who had come to pick up the order. I greeted him and explained which door he should take his truck to. I went out into the warehouse and picked out a forklift which I drove to the door. The store owner had a flatbed truck which he backed inside the building.

I loaded the pallets on the truck. The pallets were secured to the truck and the store owner was out of the building before 8:00pm.

I did a final check of the building, put the forklift on the charger, turned out the lights and setup the alarm system and exited the building.

As I walked out of the building to my rental car, it was dark and I was not in familiar surroundings. I needed to get to the hotel and check in. As I thought about the afternoon occurrences I chuckled to myself, surely the supervisors didn’t think I would have problems driving a fork lift, loading a truck, securing a building or setting the alarm system, “this wasn’t my first rodeo”.

 

Don Ford             11/13/2014

Cape Girardeau, Mo. HWI 05.26.14

 

                As I tell of these memories from the HWI warehouse at Cape Girardeau, Mo. They will not necessarily be in order. When I think of something that happened I try to make a note and these notes are not in chronological order.

                At some point I was promoted to supervisor. I believe there were two main reasons for this promotion.

First, I had experience in all aspects of warehousing to include but not limited to unloading, loading, and stocking, order filling and cleaning. I also was experienced in inventory control (adding to and deleting from inventory system) along with counter sales.

Second, I was outgoing and opinionated; I said what I thought and I was often correct. I was too dumb to be afraid of what people thought or said. It was my opinion, and I didn’t mind telling others that, I thought I was good at most things.

There was a period of time when Cape had a night shift. Lonnie was responsible for the night shift and he needed a week of vacation. I was asked to fill in for him at night. The night team was a small group and the main duties were stocking.

I was in my office doing some paper work when I heard a loud crashing noise, followed by screaming. As I stepped out of my office, I looked to my left down a long aisle that went from one side of the building to the other. (Back then the Cape warehouse was only 200,000 square feet.) 

I could see a fork lift face down and a lot of merchandise all over the floor. The operator Mitch was ok, he was the person who was screaming. Everyone ran to the scene of the accident.

As I said, the fork lift was face down and the forks were slightly imbedded into the cement floor. The product was creosote in gallon cans and some was leaking onto the floor, some had splashed on the wall.

No one was hurt, so I decided to have the fork lift righted (back on its wheels). All the fork lifts were electric (battery powered) and I wanted to stop the battery acid from leaking out on the floor. This fork lift was a TW (three wheeler). We used another fork lift and a chain to stand the lift up. 

As soon as we had the fork lift back on its wheels. The team began to clean up the leaking creosote, and I went to call the manager. It wasn’t long before he arrived.

Mitch explained the accident this way. He had a pallet of creosote on his forks which weighed close to 2,000 pounds. He had stopped in front of the overstock location, where he planned to place the pallet on the top level, which was 15 feet high. He was parallel to the rack talking to another stocker. The other stocker left and Mitch began to lift the pallet. His plan was to get the pallet lifted to the 15 foot level then turn the lift facing the location and drive forward placing the pallet on the rack.

Mitch failed to tilt the forklift’s upright back, which would bring the weight of the pallet back over the lift and allow him to maneuver the pallet to the over stock location. He raised the load and as the load approached the 15 foot level, the weight of the creosote tipped the fork lift over face down on to the floor.

For many years, each time I would visit the Cape center I would go past the wall that still had stain from the creosote and remember the event.

Mitch stayed with HWI and later was promoted to a supervisor position.

 

Don Ford

 

Cape Girardeau, Mo. HWI 05.13.14

 

                The Cape center was the first expansion for HWI. Their home office and main warehouse was located in Fort Wayne In. Their ware house workers and truck drivers were union. This may seem a little odd but as I understand it their union was the meat cutters union. I don’t know the reason behind that.

Obviously, 43 years ago the computer systems were somewhat different from todays. The first computer that was in the main office was huge, and they used punch cards to control the computer. Punch cards were also used to enter data. The process was something like this;

Paper POs were placed in folders alphabetically, in a file drawer in the receiving office. Each page of a PO could have as many as 25 SKUs ^{(Stock Keeping Units)} and POs could have 15 or more pages.

Product arrived on a trailer, the unloader would verify that all the pieces were there and sign the freight waybill.

The signed freight bill was attached to the PO.

A checker would take the PO and check all the product in. The checker would make hash marks and write numbers or notes on the paper PO. When the checker verified it as being all there, a check mark was placed by the quantity ordered. If the quantity received was different from that ordered, the quantity received was written by the qty. ordered.

The checker initialed the PO.

POs were taken to the front office where the office staff would enter the data into the computer. Each line of data was actually punched into a card. When all the receipts were punched, these cards were placed in a hopper and each one went through a card reader and data was entered into the computer.

There was no way to see what was on hand (in inventory) locally, we would need to call Fort Wayne.

Each item in the center had its own home location. Originally, all the home locations at Cape had to be in the same as the home location in Fort Wayne. Since the Fort Wayne warehouse was old, small and laid out less efficiently, this system was less than optimal for Cape. 

 

Progress made at Cape.

I was the lead person in receiving and I unloader trailers just like all the other receivers. One day I decided to do something different from the normal process. I decided to unload, check and haul each shipment from my trailer that day. 

For most shipments the process was to;

1. Unload and verify piece counts, sign the freight bill,

2. Place the merchandise in an area to be checked,

3. A checker would check in the merchandise and attach a routing slip, Routing slip went with the merchandise to the stock person. when stock was put away the slip would be turned in verifying that the shipment had been put away and it was ok to enter the product into the computer).  

4. A hauler ^{(person on a fork lift)} would take the product to the stocking department,

5. Stock person would put merchandise away and turn in the routing slip.

 

I was successful in my attempt to unload, check and haul each shipment. I was doing something different and that made me happy. The manager came by and I had to brag about what I had just done. He said he liked that idea and asked if I could do it on another trailer load. I responded with no problem but it takes a little longer than just unloading.

After proving that most of the product could be unloaded, checked and hauled it became a time saving process that we all used.

Back in those days a driver stayed with the load and helped unload. We were not charged for the driver’s time at the dock, and the drivers would rather be helping us unload than somewhere else possibly working harder.

 

Thanks for reading, I will have more stories later.

 

Don Ford

 

 

Cape Girardeau, Mo. HWI 05.12.14

 

Continuing on memory lane at the Hardware Wholesalers Inc. (HWI) Cape Girardeau, Mo. Warehouse.

                The first PA ^{(Public Address)} system was kind of unusual for a warehouse. The system we had was the type used in some schools. Announcements were made from a central point at the front office. Most of the staff did not know but the PA system had two way speakers. You could make an announcement to a particular area and if the person making the announcement flipped the right switch they could hear comments from anyone near the speaker.

                As I said most of the staff did not know this. I made an announcement to the Bin section starting bench and packing area, to clean up the area as soon as you complete your last order.

                A lady name Judy was near the speaker and said, “what if I don’t want to”. I replied, “Do it anyway”. I heard her ask another staff member, “Can they hear us in the office?” Being the north end of a south bound horse I answered her saying, “Yes we can hear you”.  Later I was told by the manager not to do that anymore.

 

                I would say we had fun and did things that would get you disciplined today. The following is one of those things.

                In those days HWI had totes or hampers that were made of heavy duty corrugated. We actually sealed the tote top on using a lead seal that was crimped on with a special tool. Totes were not supposed to be too heavy but occasionally there would be a tote that would weigh 100 pounds or more.

Each tote had a serial number and we had to record each number. These numbers were also listed by route and provided to the returns person. We learned later that they never did anything with the serial numbers it was just a waste of our time.

                One day someone decided to play a joke on someone in shipping. They nailed an empty tote to the shipping cart, put the top on it, sealed it shut and it was on a cart with other merchandise. The shipper began to remove the merchandise from the cart and he got to that tote and it would not move. He tried a couple times but could not budge it. Finally he went to get his lead person because the tote was too heavy. Evidently the lead person was in on the joke and told him what had happened. All the other shippers thought it was funny.

                You would get a disciplinary action if you did that now.

 

Talking about shipping and practical jokes in shipping:

                Another joke that would likely get you a disciplinary action in today’s world, but we thought it was funny. In the warehouse there were large cartons, when I say large I mean 4 foot by 4 foot by 4 foot.

There was this short fellow that worked in shipping and he decided to put one of these large cartons on a shipping cart. He climbed inside and pulled the top on the carton. The cart was set to divert off in the shipping area. One of the shippers lined the carts up to be loaded and the shipper pulled it inside the trailer. When the fellow inside the carton felt them begin to move the carton he jumped up and scared the shippers. Almost everyone thought it was funny except for the two guys who were the victims of the joke. 

 

                There was a fellow in the warehouse that was what we called, “goosey”. If someone walked up behind him and touched his rear end he would scream, “woo woo woo wooo”.

Well those guys that worked around him knew about this and they would try to catch him when he would get on the intercom to make an announcement. Just as he started to make an announcement to the entire building someone would grab his rear and he would shout, “woo woo woo wooo” to the entire center.

I guess that would be harassment now days.

 

Don Ford

 

More later

 

 

Cape Girardeau, Mo. HWI 05.11.14

 

The Cape center was the first venture away from Fort Wayne and I must say we had a lot of fun during the opening and operations of the center.

All centers have carts used in the order filling process. The bin sections have carts that are pushed by one person through narrow aisles. Totes and or cartons are placed on these carts, the order filler places merchandise into the totes or cartons and the cart is used to move merchandise from the filling location to either a conveyor or a shipping cart. The conveyor or shipping cart is then used to move the orders to shipping. 

The other order filling sections with larger merchandise, use a large cart that weighs about 400 pounds empty. In most centers these carts are known as, “shipping carts”. When the order is complete the product is left on the cart and it is taken to shipping.

The above explanation was an effort to get to this story.

In the olden days at the Cape center, (when I say olden days I mean in the early 70s) the order fillers pushed and pulled the shipping carts by hand.

We had an order filler in the bulk and lumber area whose name was Ralph. Ralph worked alone in this area and had a unique way of filling orders. Ralph would place one knee on the cart and push with the other foot. In other words he was riding the cart from one order filling location to another.

Over the years these shipping carts at Cape became known as, “Ralph Carts”. I believe the Cape center was the only center that had a nick name for these carts.

 

Another cart story from the early Cape center.

Cape had trash carts that when filled could be placed on the tow line and set to divert off at the trash dumpster. The trash compactor was located in the back corner of receiving and it was my responsibility to see that the trash was dumped. Most of us did not like the job of dumping the trash even though it was not hard work, as the unit would lift the trash cart, dump the trash into the compactor and the compactor would crush anything that was dumped in. 

Personally I viewed this work as being beneath me. I wasn’t a garbage man. I had real problems with dumping the trash and I did not like to assign the work to anyone else.

For some reason I decided to dump the trash every day. I don’t remember what caused me to do this but after about a week of dumping the trash I decided it wasn’t a bad job, I didn’t mind doing the work myself, and I no longer minded assigning someone else to do the job.

That was a long way of getting to this story.

Dawson Young was a stock person in one of the order filling areas. His section was centrally located and close to shipping. Others would take his trash cart and then when he needed it, he could not find it. First he painted the section number on the cart thinking that others would leave it alone. That did not help. 

Dawson in an effort to stop others from taking his trash cart, had chained it to a rack. Now he did not chain it so it could not be moved at all, instead he put a 25 foot chain on the cart.

As luck would have it, the warehouse manager needed a trash cart and decided to take Dawson’s cart. He took hold of the handle and began to walk away pulling the cart. When the cart reached the end of the chain it stopped abruptly. The manager later described it as, “almost pulling his arm out of socket”.

 

Since we are talking about the manager;

This manager’s name was Jim Murphy ^{(I said this manager as there were at least 6 managers that I remember at Cape)}. Jim would walk or ride through the warehouse checking on the work being done. 

The manager and supervisor had three wheeled battery powered scooters to ride. The scooter was ridden standing and had just enough room for their feet.

This particular time, Jim was walking through the overstock rack next to the bin section, I was walking with him. We were discussing something when Jim fell face down on the cement floor. He didn’t have time to catch himself or at least he didn’t seem to make an effort. Jim had stepped one foot into a plastic band that someone had removed from a carton and dropped on the floor, when the other foot got tangled in the band he fell. The only thing hurt was his pride.

 

Don Ford

 

 

More stories later.

Cape Girardeau, Missouri HWI 050914

Cape Girardeau, Missouri     HWI 050914

                ^{The first couple entries I titled as part 1 and part 2.  I have decided to add some additional entries and not use the part #, instead I will place the date that I began to write the note. It is easier for me.}

                It now seems amazing that we were able to effect the HWI start up at Cape as well as we did. Most of the employees had never worked in a warehouse setting. The three management personnel were not a team. In truth, the office manager and supervisor (being married) worked (conspired) as a team against the manager. The manager wasn’t a people person.

                I was a well-trained warehouse person but I sure wasn’t trained as a lead person or supervisor. I knew warehousing and I did not mind instructing others. In other words I would take charge and at times I acted like the north end of a south bound horse.

                I was presented with a homemade sign. The sign, hand painted and was on an old scrap piece of walnut. Dawson Young made the sign and gave it to me. I put the sign on the wall and it was in each of my offices. It is still displayed on the manager’s office wall in the Waco Center.  The sign reads, “Rudeness is the little man’s imitation of power”. I should note; the word imitation was spelled with two “m”.

                The building was finally completed and we had offices, break rooms and toilets. The receiving office was divided into my office and then the receiving office. Wow, I now had my own office.

                The new fork lifts were delivered, serviced and ready for use. The receiving team and the stocking team were assembled for our forklift safety and operation training. Pete was showing us the controls and the basics of safety. The fork lifts were the type were the operator would sit down to operate. They would lift a pallet 15 feet and that was how high the racks were.

                We were standing in a semi-circle around the front of the lift. Pete activated the control to raise the forks. The forks without a pallet were raised to a height of about 6 feet. Pete then explained that we should never walk under raised forks, with or without a load. At that moment the forks fell like a ton of lead to the floor. The forks falling, and the loud noise when they hit the cement, got everyone’s attention.

                The forks falling was an accident. The fork lift had a defect and was repaired. I must say it got our attention and I don’t think any of those present during the train session ever walked under raised forks.

                Any staff that operated a fork lift had to quickly learn to maneuver through and around the tow line carts. It should be understood that the tow line had the power to push a forklift and if it caught the lift at its side could have turned it over. 

                The receiving operators would take a pallet from the trailer he was unloading and while the tow line was moving drive in between the carts. As the tow line pulled the carts the operator would place the pallet on the cart and maneuver away from the cart without ever hitting the following cart. 

                The tow line carts could be set to divert from the main tow line into a side spur. This way the receiving staff could send a cart to a particular stocking section. This seemed like a good process but it had some problems.

                If there was anything left on a spur and if carts were set to divert to that spur, the carts would push anything in its way, out of the way. The tow line was left running over lunch and there was a couple carts that were left on a spur. During lunch other carts diverted to that spur and the carts pushed each other into a rack. A portion of the rack was literally knocked down. We learned tow not allow anything to be set on the spurs and to shut the tow line off during lunch.

 

Don Ford