My dad supervises a maintenance crew in a state prison here in Michigan and a couple years ago I had the chance to tour the prison he works in. This prison is one of the oldest in the state and, at one time, had the longest cell block in the country. We were allowed to access the whole prison, as it was at the tail end of a remodel job. We got to see the old movie theater, no longer in operation, the gym, library, med center, ect. We also learned a little about the history of the prison which was really interesting as it experienced a riot at one time. I was even able to see some of the catwalks that were set in between two cells where guards were able to escape during the riot.
I also thought it was pretty interesting to see the procedures the maintenance guys have to go through. The apartment maintenance industry as a whole is pretty laid back. For example, if one those guys working in the prison misplaces a tool the whole prison can get shut down. This means nobody, and I mean nobody, is allowed in or out until that tool is found. When walking through the prison I saw a board like the one pictured above. At the time there were a few tools missing from the board. In their spot was a plastic circle about 1" in diameter with a number stamped on it. Each maintenance man was given a certain number of these chits with an identifying number on it. In order to check out a tool they had to give the chit, with their number on it, to the employee passing out the tools. Without a chit, you didn't get a tool. If your chit was still on the board at the end of the day and you didn't have the tool, there was a problem.
When I went back to work I started thinking about all the times I would spend minutes or, in rare cases, hours looking for a tool. I knew I wanted to implement a system similar to the prisons but I knew it was going to cost some money. I needed to build a caged in area in our shop to house the tools and make sure everything had a labeled spot which meant pegboard hardware, hooks, shelving, ect. I also would need to buy the chits. In order to justify the cost I decided to keep track of the time lost looking for tools over a couple weeks. I started to keep a mental calculation of all the time somebody called over the radio, asked me for a tool, or when I was looking for a tool myself. I couple times a day I would mark this time down in my notebook. After two weeks I had tracked 5 hours of wasted time! That's 130 hours of wasted time a year!
I sat my regional manager and resident manager down and explained to them my idea. I wanted to build an 8' x 8' room inside our shop. In the room I wanted to put two shelf benches on each wall with some stacked shelves on one side. I also knew we needed plenty of peg board. The best way to organize tools is with a shadowed peg board. Outline your tools "shadow" with a marker and then paint in the shape. I designed it all on Google's Sketchup and showed them what the finished product would look like.
Google Sketchup Design
On the walls where there is just the wire mesh we were able to hang bigger tools like the leaf blower, shovels, and rakes. We also stored our extension cords and air hoses on hooks over these areas.
After seeing how many hours we were wasting looking for tools I got approval to install the tool crib. The first step was making a procedure that was going to work well in our environment. I was the supervisor but I knew I wasn't going to be in the shop all the time so I couldn't use the same system that the prisons used, but I figured if I gave the chits to the guys we could use the honor system.
Unfortunately I was unable to finish the project as I moved on to another job before everything was complete. I did however leave my idea behind for the incoming supervisor and I hear he put it into place. Someday maybe I'll stop by to see the finished product.
I think all properties should come up with some system or another to keep track of their tools. Buying tools is expensive and the crew needs to know they are going to be held accountable for how they handle company property. I think that the tool crib idea is overkill for a lot of properties but after you get into a couple hundred units I think it is more than feasible. The time employees save is almost an added bonus to the amount of money you can save from lost or stolen tools.
Hope this gives some of you some good ideas. What kind of tool tracking procedures do you guys use on your properties? Post your ideas below!
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