Rubber Mixing is a capital and energy intensive operation. And mixing machinery are the mother equipment. This could be an Internal Mixer (Banbury or Intermix) or Rubber Dispersion Kneader depending on the size of your organization and/or products manufactured.

Hence, the cost of errors or omissions are very high when compounding a batch in a mixer. You need a skilled operator. Ever pondered on the skills that make a mixer operator successful?

Here is the list of top 15 skills for an successful batch mixer (or kneader) operator. (Updated on 23rd Dec 2015: Flip through this post in our digital edition and download here)

1. Control of Operations – Your mixer operator should be able to adjust ram pressure, control the mixing process, set parameters and ensure its completion as per SOP (temperature or time or energy as programmed/specified).
2. Monitoring Operations – The most important skill of your operator should be to have a keen eye for watching gauges, dials, or other indicators in the control panel or HMI to make sure the mixer is working properly. He has to ensure that the mixer is kept clean, safety features are functional,  upstream and downstream equipment along with all accessories (like cooling water, hydraulic/pneumatic system, temperature control unit (TCU), lubrication system, etc) are ready
3. Active Listening – Your operator should be a skilled listener. He should actively listen to the sounds of the mixer and its motor during a mixing cycle; pay full attention to what his supervisor (or you) or his colleagues on the mixing room safety are saying, take time to understand the points being made, and ask relevant questions.
4. Speaking – Your operator should be able to talk to you (or his supervisor) to convey information effectively be it to report data/problems/incidents as applicable in a timely manner
5. Reading Comprehension – An operating and maintenance manual is normally supplied together with the rubber mixer. This is a crucial document. Again your compounding process may involve specific work related instructions or SOP. Or there could be a training manual in some instances. Your operator should be able to understand written sentences and paragraphs in these documents. Hence, reading skills is very important for a successful operator. It is not necessary (while it is preferred) that they read English, because you could translate these documents to your operator’s local language for ease of reading.
6. Troubleshooting, Judgment and Decision Making – Your operator is the first point of contact with your mixer in operation. Hence, he should have the experience or knowledge on mixers to determine/read the causes of any operating errors when they occur, judge the gravity of the error and also decide what to do about it – whether to reset the mixer, or escalate to supervisor or raise a service visit request of the manufacturer’s engineer.
7. Critical Thinking – Operating a rubber mixer requires critical thinking skills because your operator should use logic and reasoning to identify alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems he faces while mixer is in operation.
8. Quality Control Analysis – Your operator should have basic skills on quality control with an outlook to meet your set mix quality parameters in every batch. This may involve need for appropriate fine tuning like helping you fix the batch weight, or sending the sample of specified compound/ batch in specified form to lab for testing.
9. Social Perceptiveness – Emotions could run high in the rubber mixing room. Your operator should display “awareness” of others’ reactions and understanding of why they react as they do in a particular circumstance.
10. Repairing – Your mixer operator should be able to use the required tools to both repair and assist repair of mixers when needed in the most urgent manner.
11. Time Management – Your operator should manage his own time and display sensitivity to the time of other co-workers involved in the mixing room.
12. Mixer Maintenance – Performing routine maintenance on mixer and determining when and what kind of maintenance is needed is an important skill that your operator should posses.
13. Active Learning – Your operator should display active learning skills. This is because, mixers get upgraded, automation and new controls might get introduced or new methods of mixing could be introduced all of which he might have to learn or get trained in.
14. Writing – If you could get an operator who could communicate effectively in writing to you (or his supervisor) or to other departments, then I would say you have a great asset.
15. Complex Problem Solving – Your operator should develop skills to identify and solve complex problems when they occur at site and support maintenance department effectively over a period of time. This reduces the downtime of your mixer.

Do you agree the above listed 15 skills, required for an Internal Mixer or Kneader Operator, are comprehensive? Let us know.

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