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After I left the plastic shop I was introduced to the Stores
manager, there was stock everywhere, millions of pounds of it
spread throughout the factory in different locations. It was
this that led a few years later to my interest in Production
Control, as the levels of these stocks frightened me. For every
process there were vast amounts of items. Having just spent a
little time in the Plastic Shop I was familiar with a few of the
materials - HIS, ABS, Polycarbonates etc. The material was
purchased in its raw form, normally in bags of 25kgs and
pelletized, if moulded like this the component would be
uncoloured, to add colour you needed a dye and this also came in
the form of pellets called masterbatch. Depending on the
material and colouring required you would add a percentage of
masterbatch to the raw plastic - typically 3%. Mettoy had
invested heavily in the latest ICL computer and all material
requirements in the factory were controlled through this. I
later came to understand how out of control this system was,
when materials were ordered incorrectly - too little, too much
or the
wrong types. This was 1977 yet when we closed the UK
factory of Oxford Diecast in 2001 we still had stocks of
masterbatch dating back to this time - in fact virtually every
Bullnose roof made in the UK used colourants that were 15 to 20
years old. We sold off 8 tonnes of colourant when we switched
manufacturing overseas and I suppose some of it’s still used today.
It was early December and we were giving the task of stockchecking the whole of the plastic stores, it was a filthy job and I was told it had never been finished before - I hated that job. Then a switch to the shop floor which was full of excitement. Nearing Christmas of 1977 the hot item was the Starsky and Hutch Ford Torino and the James Bond Lotus Espirit. We were knocking out 10-12,000 little Corgi Juniors a day and about 3,000 big ones, however instead of getting involved in that I was given the task (by KEN!) to watch over a new release, the C1113 Hyster Stacker Truck. Not quite what I had in mind, but my first chance to make an impression - the production was not going well and they needed it increased immediately!
