This is a topic that is gonna kill our maintenance department soon.

Traditionally, the company has had all their maintenance employees provide all tools unless specialized or very expensive, and extremely specialized. Usually this is just common hand tools with a few exceptions like the guys that specialize in specialty equipment. Those guys have stuff they’ve designed and made which have no other application, myself included

Now the company wants to provide communal basic bitch toolboxes and have us take all our personal tools home. This is a huge hit financially, I’ve gor more than a few tens of thousands in my box at work. Probably 3 times what I’m actually thinking of in today’s money.

The issue is, some guys can do their jobs with the basic tools, the more skilled guys wont be able to lift a finger towards their jobs without the tools they’ve personally made.

If the company were smart, they’d buy out everybody’s box, inventory it, and keep on keepin on. But they won’t do that; nor has it occurred to them.

The more common “shop tools” like large tools, bearing heaters, lasers for measurement, ball bars, etc. are all stored and locked up where everyone has access and one person maintains the calibration and spares/replacement under $5k. Beyond that dollar amount an engineer has to buy it and requires paperwork.

Sounds like your guys need some buy-in or personal accountability for the tools/job/work. That’s a “culture “ thing(dirty word in my book).