[00:00] Line Supervisor: Right, so, um, this is how we set up an assembly station from scratch — from an empty bench through to the first good part. I'll just talk you through it in order. [00:18] Line Supervisor: First thing — and I mean before you touch anything on that bench — you confirm the work order, the part number, and the drawing revision all match. All three. Not just the part number. Because, um, the single biggest cause of scrap on this line, by a mile, is somebody building to an out-of-date drawing revision. So check it, every single setup, even if you did the same job last week. [00:52] Line Supervisor: Once that's confirmed, then — then we move to safety and access. Walkways clear, so nothing's been left in the aisle. Guarding's in place and it's not damaged — if a guard's cracked or missing a fixing, that station doesn't run, full stop. E-stop needs to be reachable from where you're actually standing to work, not two steps away. And, um, no trailing leads across the floor — air lines, power cables, all of that gets routed properly, not just draped across where someone's going to walk. [01:40] Line Supervisor: So there's actually a proper station safety check that goes with this, six steps. Walkways and exits clear. Guards fitted and undamaged. E-stop tested and reachable. Air and power isolated before you fit any tooling — and that's, that's a big one, you never fit or change tooling with air or power live, ever. Leads and hoses routed away from the floor. And PPE checked and worn before you start. [02:35] Line Supervisor: Right, so with that done, next is layout. And there's one principle here that matters more than anything else — one direction of flow. Material comes in on one side, finished parts go out the other. Nothing crosses the operator's body. If you're twisting round to reach something, the layout's wrong. [03:10] Line Supervisor: So, laying out the station — the fixture goes at the working point, obviously. Supply bins on the feed side, within reach, so you're not stretching. Outfeed rack or bin on the far side, opposite to where material comes in. Hand tools go in fixed, marked positions — every tool has a spot, and it goes back in that spot. Waste and reject bin needs to be clearly, clearly separate from the good-parts bin. And — this is important — walk the sequence once, empty-handed, before you actually load the station with material. Just to check the flow makes sense with your body actually moving through it. [04:05] Line Supervisor: On the reject bin thing — I want to really stress that one. If your reject bin looks anything like your good-parts bin, sooner or later a reject's going into a customer shipment. So they need to look different, be positioned differently, whatever it takes. [04:35] Line Supervisor: Okay, so once the station's laid out, next is tooling and settings. This is where — this is where people cut corners when they're in a rush, so pay attention here. Check the calibration date on every torque tool before you use it. Every one. Confirm the fixture part number actually matches the work order — fixtures look similar, it's easy to grab the wrong one. Seat it and lock it properly. Set the required torque, or pressure, or programme number, whatever applies, and then — and this bit gets skipped a lot — you log those settings against the work order before the first build. Not after. Before. [05:35] Line Supervisor: And on the torque tool thing — if a tool's out of calibration, that doesn't just mean the parts you're not sure about are suspect. It means every single part built with that tool is suspect. All of them. So that's not a small thing. [06:05] Line Supervisor: Right, last piece — first-off approval. You build one complete part, at a normal working pace, don't rush it and don't go slow either, just normal pace. Then you check every dimension and every feature that's called out on the drawing. Every one, not just the obvious ones. You present that part with the work order to whoever signs off first-offs. And — this is the bit people get wrong — you do not build the second part until that first one is signed. Doesn't matter if the job "ran fine last week," every setup gets its own first-off, no exceptions. [07:10] Line Supervisor: The reason that matters is if you build ahead while you're waiting on sign-off, and it turns out something's wrong, you've just scrapped a whole batch instead of one part. So wait for the signature. [07:40] Line Supervisor: Once it's signed, keep that approved first-off part right there at the station, so anyone can compare against it through the shift if they're not sure about something. [08:05] Line Supervisor: One more thing before I finish — if you ever have to leave the station partway through setup, for a break or whatever, tag it. Mark it as incomplete, clearly, so the next person doesn't just assume it's ready to run. That's caught more problems than I can count. [08:40] Line Supervisor: So, to run through it — check the work order, part number and drawing revision match. Do the safety check — walkways, guarding, e-stop, isolate before fitting tooling, leads routed properly, PPE on. Lay the station out for one direction of flow, tools in fixed spots, reject bin clearly separate, walk it empty-handed first. Verify tooling — calibration dates, right fixture, seated and locked, settings logged before the first build. Build one first-off, check it fully, get it signed, and only then build the second part. [09:20] Line Supervisor: That's genuinely the whole sequence. It sounds like a lot, but once you've set up two or three stations it's maybe twenty minutes of actual work, and the two things that catch people out are the drawing revision at the start and skipping the first-off at the end. Don't skip either of those. [09:50] Line Supervisor: Right, that's the station setup, empty bench to first good part. I'll leave it there.