Modern Tooling Control Methods
My company has decided to support our tooling control initiative which has sparked a debate as to the best way to go about it.
We have machines that use a specific set of tooling that is swapped out, inspected & touched up weekly or every other week depending on usage.
One school of thought here is that a position should be created specifically for being in charge of the tooling area. They would do the inspections on the tooling and any polishing or sharpening that may be required. They would also ensure that the inventory counts are properly maintained and re-order tooling once a minimum quantity level is met.
The other school of thought is that the days of the green visored tooling person are in the past and that tooling should be strictly by an automated ordering system based off of a predictive tool wear schedule. The concerns with that are that it leaves tooling inspection and maintenance in the hands of operators and Maintenance Techs when they could be doing other things (like keeping are old machines running!). Another fear is that with leaving the inventory counts in the hands of everyone it will degenerate into things not being properly documented and vague responsibilities leading to things not getting done.
So what is your opinion on tooling control?