Based on the stay-at-home order from Governor Inslee on March 23, 2020, and the temporary shutdown of Boeing Puget Sound, Tool Gauge temporarily shut down from March 26 through April 16^th.

As we plan to bring back partial crews to support non-Boeing Puget Sound shipments, Tool Gauge leadership and management teams have placed COVID-19 best practices to keep everyone safe and healthy while in the office and on factory floors. Best practices include prevention, protection and containment strategies:

Prevention

• • Informed employees of COVID-19 symptoms to watch for through CDC approved fliers, signage, and updates posted on internal applications.
• • Signage with enhanced PPE requirements has been posted throughout metals and plastics facilities near time clocks.
• • Nitrile gloves, safety glasses, face masks, and hearing protection have been provided to all employees working.
• • PPE are placed in optimal areas near doors and time clocks for distribution with clear explanations of proper usage.
• • Common areas such as lunchrooms, bathrooms, conference rooms, and all doors will be cleaned 4 times daily. Cleaning logs have been implemented and placed in each area, requiring a date, time and employee number of when it was cleaned.
• • All doors are to remain open to reduce exposure.
• • Signs are posted throughout both facilities to encourage people to wash their hands frequently, using soap, and washing for a minimum of 20 seconds.

Protection

• • Social distancing is in place, with a 6 ft separation policy in place. We’ve taped X’s and lines throughout both facilities indicating where people should stop when approaching work cells.
• • Break times have been staggered to allow a minimum of 6 ft separation at lunch tables.
• • Cleaning stations have been placed throughout offices and on the factory floors. Employees have quick access to cleaning equipment such as disinfectant wipes, paper towels, Lysol spray, etc.
• • Implementation of self-check screening tools.
• • Restricted all international business travel and any external meetings and personnel.
• • Staff who can work remotely have been encouraged to do so.
• • Communicate with all staff via email and internal applications on COVID-19 updates and temporary shutdown dates
• • Producing DtM Face Shields for Washington State, click here for DtM Face Shield assembly steps and instructions for use

Containment

• • Mandated quarantine for employees testing positive for COVID-19.
• • Identify and contact employees who may have been in contact with employee(s) displaying symptoms and mandate quarantine.
• • Close contaminated work area or facility.
• • Start disinfection procedures of contaminated areas.

Best practices have been distributed through multiple forms of communications via posted flyers in both metals and plastics divisions, internal applications and emails, and social media. We will continue to update our employees, customers, and suppliers of our best practices, temporary shutdown updates, and COVID-19 news in the Puget Sound region.

For more information on preventing the spread of COVID-19 and other respiratory illnesses, visit the CDC or your state’s Department of Health website.

If you are interested in purchasing Face Shields from Tool Gauge, please click here for more information or contact us at sales@toolgauge.net.

Click here for DtM Face Shield assembly steps and instructions for use. 

The post Best Practices & Policies During COVID-19 appeared first on Tool Gauge.

September proved to be one of the busier months with the remaining plastics departments moving from the old PMP building to the facility. Mold maintenance, CNC, and quality moved in the middle of the month, followed by the tool room and plastic injection molders.

With the help of Checkmate Industries, the plastic injection molders were moved swiftly to the new facility in just three days. Molders were then reconnected and calibrated to keep up with production schedules and to prepare for Boeing’s BAC5231 recertification.

Due to delays with a demolition permit, demo day was pushed back from early to mid-November but that didn’t slow Dickson Company from tearing down our old plastics building in less than a week. The final wall came down, marking the end of an era and the start of phase 2 construction with Washington Patriot Construction.

Construction began early December with site grading in preparation for footing and stem wall excavation, and footing forms installation.

Upcoming construction activities include concrete footing placement with 100+ yards of concrete being poured starting Dec. 13^th, stem wall form and rebar installation, underground plumbing and electrical installation, and slab on grade in early January.

Substantial completion of the Tool Gauge expansion project is scheduled for May 11, 2020 with an open house scheduled in June.

When completed, Phase 2 of the expansion project will include an industry leading paint line, QA lab, training and lunchroom area, employee lockers and restrooms, offices and facility lobby. Other important expansion details include:

• •An additional 80,000 sq. ft. in our plastics division
• •Expansion of our plastics press size range
• •Broadened secondary operations, improving flow and ergonomic assembly
• •Installation of a state-of-the-art vertical paint system
• •New research and development center
• •Implementation of multiple collaborative robots (cobots)
• •An additional 2,000 sq. ft. for CNC machines and equipment within our metals division

If you’ve been keeping up with our social media outlets and blog posts, you may have noticed we’ve already started taking action on expanding our plastic presses and evaluating new technology for the factory floor.

We’ve received one of our five new plastic injection molders, a bright green Engel 1250 equipped with a Viper 50 robot. Once up and running, this machine will be molding interior parts for Boeing’s 777x and 737 aircrafts. In the next coming week, we will be receiving four additional Engel 85-340 ton molders for the plastics factory floor.

Management and engineering teams have also evaluated new types cobots for the plastics division, including an autonomous mobile robot (amr) from Mobile Industrial Robots (Mir). Olympus Controls visited Tool Gauge in late November to demonstrate their MiR500, which is a prime candidate to autonomously transport material and finished goods from various departments in the new facility. Both teams will continue to evaluate MiR as they review proof of concepts and ROI before purchasing a model. Click here for more information on our automation strategy with MiR robots.

We invite you to follow along with the last leg of our expansion journey by watching our 24 hour Workzone Cam and on our social media handles.

The post Facility Expansion Update – Winter 2019 appeared first on Tool Gauge.

As an official Boeing program, the BPEA recognizes suppliers who have achieved high performance standards to remain competitive in the global aerospace manufacturing industry while meeting customer expectations. 

The annual program to recognize their supplier’s performance as measured in Enterprise Supplier Performance Measurement (ESPM) system. Eligibility criteria includes gold or silver composite performance ratings for each month during the performance period (Oct. 1 to Sept. 30) without suppressed ESPM data, annual contract value of at least $100,000, and a minimum of 10 monthly deliveries or a General Performance Assessment rating. This year, 380 suppliers achieved either a Gold or Silver level Boeing Performance Excellence Award. Tool Gauge is among 298 suppliers to be awarded of the Silver level of recognition.

The post Tool Gauge Receives 2018 Boeing Performance Excellence Award appeared first on Tool Gauge.