Hello Forum! Let’s assume that if you found this part of MSC’s Better MRO Forum, you have a passion for machining and manufacturing. Let’s also assume that while you are trying to help yourself get better that you also have a lot to contribute to the conversation. What are your thoughts that could lead to action in our industries efforts to improve on recruiting, training and retaining critical machining talent?
In the article ‘It’s Not Dirty’ Won’t Cut It I tried to bring up the point that we need to begin to focus on what the world of machining and manufacturing are rather than a heavy focus on what we are not. I contend that there are so many positive messages that we can focus on. Many of these are complicated, like machining, but there are general principles that we need to clarify and use our most eloquent wordsmithing to accurately describe to the world.
What are the messages that you think need to be included in the conversation? What are the practical efforts that you have used or observed that worked? Do you agree with me that our messaging is sometimes stuck in 1974 on a knee mill as opposed to a message of 2020 on a high speed horizontal milling machine?
Please jump into the conversation.
It's Not Dirty. We can have a better message than that.
2020-Jan-27 | 11:52 am EST
#1
Sales Manager, MSC
It's Not Dirty. We can have a better message than that.
Broc Bryson, I thoroughly enjoyed what you had to say and the points that you make in your article. I am twenty five years old and have been a machinist now for 6 years. I started as an apprentice from an add I found in the paper for a Mold and die shop in the town I live in. Ive always been mechanically inclined and loved working with metal and machines. Applying for the job, and subsequently being hired has been one of the best things thats ever happend to me. I never had a desire for college and I always was under the impression that its not necissary to go to college, not to mention the debt that goes along with it, to get a rewarding career. I would say for me the satisfaction aspects to being a machinist are really what apeal to me. Such as, turning a piece of raw material into an expensive aircraft part. And the ability to constantly advance and learn something new. I went from knowing little to nothing about machining theory engeneering or running a machine, to now being able to run manual mills, grinders, lathes, cnc lathes almost any machine in the shop. And even now learning cad and cam and doing my own programming. When you have that type of knowledge its very rewarding to know you can make almost anything! It truely is not only a career that has a high potential for pay but its also just a fun job. I enjoy being on my feet and having an active work day. I think that in this day and age that is an important aspect, not everybody wants a job at a desk. Not to mention that I never know what I might make or fix, it keeps things fresh. And if I have a repeat job then its like a challenge to myself, how can I make the company more money, reduce cycle time, reduce material loss. Constant training and also not to keep an employee to stagnant in a company are good ways to retain the workforce. I think if someone does too much of the same thing, or when they believe they have nothing else to learn is when they start looking for the next job. There are many other things I could think to describe the rewards and reasons to be a machinist. I actually have a job I can come to and love it everyday, and isnt that what people always say to look for? Anything I can do to be an ambassador for the machining industry I will.
Great response and contribution to the discussion! So good to have a voice from someone that has made the plunge into the industry in the past 6 years. Really great point about the satisfaction of making something. I have wondered about how to put that feeling into words. The sense of accomplishment when the part meet's the tolerances, has a good surface finish and exceeds the cycle time expectations. Such a key piece of why we love machining. Really great point about being up moving and involved in active things. Thank you for your comments and your commitment to "The Cause". Enjoy!
I graduated from a vocational program in 2003 and went right to work as an apprentice Tool & Diemaker. I spent 15 years at a company working up to moving into our engineering department. I am now a second year teacher at the very same vocational high school that I graduated from. What I see as an all too common theme is students exploring our state of the art shop saying that HVAC, Electrician, and Plumbers are the way to go because of money. Today a newer challenge we are seeing hit us directly, where a new student came in with a shop change request form. I always encourage students to do what they enjoy and can see themselves doing for the rest of their lives. When I asked what the reasoning for this decisin was, it turned out to be parents telling the student to change because " Robots are replacing machinists". This is a message we need to tackle in a hurry. I hear it more and more where students like the work but they are hearing robots are taking our jobs away. No matter what you say they already have the thought in their heads. Is anyone else seeing this trend of robotics taking over our jobs, scaring people away from the trade?