Machine Shops Seek Skilled Workers

Hi Sharkles,

When you hire someone competent in one area of the work in a machine shop, this specially good in one area cannot perform in another area. My best and long-time friend making mixing equipment and every six (6) month he has a new skilled worker. Why? because the worker can weld but cannot cut to satisfaction. However, my friend never teaches and writes down any standard operating procedures for any work.

My suggestion, hire someone never worked in a machine shop and teach her/him what she/he has to do from A to Z or let your competent person on one area where she/he can perform to everyone's satisfaction. People working in one profession or type of work, they have the habit to transfer their knowledge to the new location and this transfer could be a big problem. I prefer to teach my system or my way to work where I am responsible.

It's hard to find people with multiple competences! We humans have quality in one area and perform miserably in another. I'm not a specialist to make emulsions for paint, and I don't want to know how make them. It's not my area of competence but I use constently emulsions. Also, I discovered with time that I use one emulsion for another application that was recommanded by the specialist in making emulsions.

Everyone is special and specialist in certain area but not in another, Gil.

On a somewhat related topic... when I got out of the army many years ago, I had no civilian skills to speak of. Not much call for Infantry or Paratrooper skills (although I did consider smoke-jumping). I eventually got a job in a machine shop as part time floor sweeper and drill press operator. I was fortunate enough to be given the chance to cross-train on every machine in the shop, and within three years, I was programming multi-axis CNC's.

Soon after, I used my army college fund, went to school, and began my mechanical engineering career. In the coming years, I can't stress enough, how much of an asset it was to have had my training as a machinist. It elevated my worth in engineering, tremendously. To have worked on both sides of the "blueprint" gave me design knowledge and design sense that you could simply never have by only practicing engineering. It accelerated my climb in my profession exponentially and made me a far better engineer.

I recommend this path to anyone considering mechanical based engineering as a career.