Pendant handoff notes

The pendant is shared knowledge

The handheld pendant is where the operator meets the machine. When the day shift hands over to someone else, a lot of knowledge stays in the first operator's head: where zero is, which job is half done, what sounded odd.

A one-page note

Keep a short handoff sheet on a clipboard by the pendant. Job name, zero position, bit in the spindle, anything unusual. It takes a minute to fill in and saves the next person from guessing.

Make it a habit

The handoff note works only if everyone does it, including the owner. Check the notes once a week. If they are blank, find out why, usually the sheet is in the wrong place or too long.

The slip we see most

Writing notes on the back of an offcut that gets cut up the next day.

How you know it is working

The morning operator starts without phoning the night operator, and the clipboard has a full week of notes.

Written by Pieter Vos, Service Manager. Pieter runs the quarterly service plans and the route weeks outside Gauteng.