I work for a publicy owned D.O.D. contractor in the manufacturing department. This particular part that me make for Lockheed Martin sells for a very high price per part. The raw material that we use is a very heat resistant, wear resistant and cost approx. 5k for a 11"x14"x1.5" block and we make numerous parts from this block.

3 weeks ago I made a observation about how we saw this block into smaller blocks to produce these parts on the CNC mill, and voice my observation to a co-worker that works to produce these parts. We were basically not being very efficent in the process and I recommended a better more effecient way to saw cuts these blanks.

That day, I mentioned to my supervisor what I was going to do, and he agreed this was a good idea. I create a new layout, machine some templates, and put them in place, and all shifts have been using them to produce parts. Now 3 weeks later I hear from other co-workers that this other co-worker, (the one i shared my idea with) was given a bonus by my supervisor for saving the company 20k over the last 3 weeks because because we cut back on the amount of waste from the sawing of this blanks. My supervisor asked this guy, "who's idea was it to do this", apparently he forgot it was me. And this co-worker said it was his idea.

What should I do?

Mention something to the co-worker and see if he comes clean?
Mentin something to my supervisor in private?
Kill said co-worker?
Make a public "big deal" about this co-worker lying, to get the bonus?
Any other suggestions?

****UPDATE @ POST#16****

talk to co-worker, if he says you didnt do anything then option c.

i would go to supervisor and show him the templates and stuff. i mean were u the only one who had access to them or had them?
if he has them as well then you might be SOL. if anything bring him with you, people tend to be cowards when confronted when they are lying especially bc you are there and your supervisor.

that sux btw how much was the bonus do you know?

dang bud, that sucks. i would talk to said co-worker privately first and go from there but thats just me. nice work tho and good luck gettin your bonus.

Since you didnt hear about the bonus directly from the co-worker, i would ask your supervisor and find out (A) if a bonus was actually awarded and (B) why you never received it. You could also suggest that a formal suggestion / process improvement process be implemented to avoid this kind of thing in the future.

The bonus was a gift card of which the amount of is not know. Although this would have been nice, I am less concerned with the bonus and more with that fact that this guy basically ruined my opinion of him. This work enviroment is very "team" oriented bucause of the type of work we do and the fact that you may start a job but many shifts may work on it, and more than likely your not gonna be the one to finish the job, and every needs to work together.

Also, my main concern is the enviroment here for the next 20 years if I do say something, I mean I would basically be calling this guy out letting everyone know a db he his and that would not be good for anyone really.

Letting this go on the other hand would give the wrong inpression of me to this guy, that I am some sort of pushover and dont mind getting stepped on..

I am torn

Ask your boss how much money your idea has saved the company. Tell him how you came about the idea and what you did to implement it. Tell him you had alot of fun concepting it and designing it and Ask if there is any other processes where you could help save the company even more money.

Maybe put it in your performance review too. I'd take a merit raise over a 100 dollar gift card any day.

be an elephant and step on the ant..

no seriously being pushed over once will only enable him to push over or try it again. don't be an enabler.

as people have said talk to him (doesnt come clean) then just you, him and super

 

Originally Posted by AbnormalQ

I'm of this opinion. He obviously didn't care about stepping on you. The hostile work environment will be his creation, because he is the one who lied about the idea source. It shows a lack of respect for fellow workers, and shows a significant lack of respect for you. That is the kind of thing people on the team NEED to know about a team member.

Thankyou all for the advice and opinions on this issue. This will all go down tomorrow, hope it all ends well, thanks again.

Just wanted to update the situation for those that were interested.

Moinday morning I asked to speak privately with my supervisor. I told him that I normally would not be concerned about this kind of stuff in the workplace, but that this particular situation I couldnt let pass, without some explanation. I told me what I knew of the situation as posted in the the OP.

Boy, am I glad that I didnt do anything before speaking with him first. He told me that he knew that it was my original idea and it was his intention to speak with me about it today (Monday, I work weekends so I only see him and the day shift crew, 1 day per week). He had asked the coworker about his involvment in seeing the idea thru and how much he helped in implementing it, because I had told my supervisor that the co-worker and myself were working on it together. He also told me that the amount we saved the company was going to be over 100k with the reamining order that we have for these parts.

I also spoke to my coworker, and I actually feel that he may have been looking out for me. because when the supervisor came to him and questioned him about his involvement, he thought that maybe we were getting in trouble because we didnt go thru all the "paperwork" and "engineering change forms" to implement our idea correctly.

Overall, this couldnt have ended better for all of us, and I want to thank OT for giving me a place to vent a little before sending home ppotentially bad emails to all involved, and also for the good advice.

Thanks guys

We will both be featured in the monthly company newsletter and that we would both be earning a quarterly bonus from the company. This is the best possible out come for this

good news. enjoy the extra dough

well done - glad you thought it through

 

Originally Posted by saxman

well done - glad you thought it through

This. Best thing you did was step back and think about it before acting on it.