How do I hand over a moulding shop’s setup techs and their knowledge?
Treat the setup techs as the shop’s most fragile asset. Write down their settings and tricks, pair each with a trainee, and talk to them early about what the new owner plans. Their knowledge lives in their hands, so keep them involved and recognised.
In a moulding shop the setup techs often hold what the paperwork does not: how to coax a tricky mould, which settings run cleanly and how to recover from a bad start. Begin by listing each tech, the jobs they handle and what only they know. Then capture it. Process sheets, photos, video of a changeover and notes on each mould reduce the dependence on memory.
Pair each experienced tech with someone who can learn. Give the trainee real setups, not just observation, and review the results together. Over time, rotate who leads so the knowledge spreads. Record which jobs can be run by more than one person. Ask whether any process sheet is out of date, and fix it while the people who know are still here. Test a procedure by having a trainee follow only the written sheet.
Keep the people, too. Talk with the techs before the news leaks, explain what the successor intends and listen to their worries. Tell them what will stay the same. Ask your lawyer and accountant about retention arrangements, and about how employment terms carry over. A successor who respects the techs and gives them a say is more likely to keep them.
Key takeaways
- List each tech’s unique knowledge and capture it in process sheets and video.
- Pair every senior tech with a trainee who handles real setups.
- Talk to the techs early, and ask professionals about retention arrangements.
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Sources
This answer is checked against primary sources. Links were last confirmed on the dates shown.
- 01Business Development Bank of CanadaGovernmentWhat is succession planning?
- 02Business Development Bank of CanadaGovernmentAfter buying a business, what is the next step?
- 03Canadian Federation of Independent BusinessResearch dataSuccession Tsunami: Preparing for a decade of small business transitions
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