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COTTON FARMING IS THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE GINNING INDUSTRY.
Better Communication Can Help Gin Efficiency How you communicate with your employees can make a difference in how well they comply with your safety program. Communication of goals, hazards, procedures and duties are critical to making sure people do their jobs the safe and efficient way in which they are trained The tough part of any communication is verification that the message was received. When there are language and cultural barriers, that verification can be even tougher. Safety programs are built on communication. Communication of rules, communication of procedures, communication of hazards and feedback from employees are all extremely important. For example, in a recent series of roundtable discussions conducted by Southeastern Cotton Ginners in the region, discussions centered on safety and brought together groups of employees from various gins to exchange ideas. The attendees were broken into groups with one of the groups designated as having an interpreter. The interpreter saw several persons in another group (a group that didn’t ask for language assistance) not really participating. He went over and spoke to them in Spanish, and they immediately opened up and began engaging in conversation (with interpretation). They were part of the activities the rest of the day. All it took was figuring out that they didn’t understand even though they said they didn’t need any linguistic help. We are starting this gin season right now in most of the country. Therefore, it is time to figure out if you are effectively communicating. This doesn’t have to be difficult, but it can be tricky. The kind of self-starter, eager-to-please employee we love to have in gins is the one who will tell you he really understands when he really doesn’t. Encourage active participation and feedback from all levels of workers, and you will gain a much better idea as to who really understood and who signed the safety meeting roster just to get that extra half hour of pay. Have a safe gin season.
Cotton Gin Brushes
Channel Saws
Our precision CNC fabricating equipment enables us to produce the highest quality gin brushes and channel saws at a very competitive price. When it comes to our products, we use only the highest quality “Made in the USA” raw materials available. We know gin machinery and the conditions in which it has to perform, and our brushes and channel saws are manufactured to an exacting standard for the modern cotton gin.
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RAM Manufacturing Company 1333 E. 44th St. Lubbock, TX 79404 806-745-5552 Fax: 806-745-5582 rammfgco@rammfg.net www.rammfg.net
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1-800-367-9992 Stocked in Louisiana and Oregon
Dusty Findley of the Southeastern Cotton Ginners Association contributed this article. Contact him at dusty@southernsoutheastern.org.
A Division of
www.cottonmodulechain.com COTTON FARMING OCTOBER 2014
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