I had to go into work today (I normally have Wednesday's off) to cover for our sales manager, who had two customers visiting at the same time. I had to entertain one of the customers who wanted to watch some parts being forged, and expose a summer intern to exactly what is involved in the manufacturing of the products they produce.
For those unfamiliar with what I do, I work for a small aerospace manufacturing firm which produces forgings used primarily in jet engines and for aircraft structural parts. We manufacture the parts using large hammers, which for lack of a better description, think of as a process similar to a blacksmith making horse shoes. We just do it on a much grander scale, with our largest hammer rated at 50,000 pounds.
It's dirty, noisy, and it is a lot of hard work for the guys who do the actual production of the parts. Fortunately I only have to tell them what temperatures they have to heat the material to, in order to obtain the desired mechanical properties, which I do from a relatively clean and quiet office.
But for some reason today, as I was escorting our customer through the plant, it really seemed to hit home just how hard those guy work, and the environment they have to endure, 10 hours a day, 4 and sometimes 5 days a week. I'm not sure I could have survived very long doing what they do.
Fortunately I don't have to do that, and I sense most people reading this post don't either. But there are many in society who do, and I think it is important that we don't lose sight of just how much every American has and still contributes to the well being of society.
I was going to say a lot more on this subject, and even started a little political rant, but I decided against that, and instead just wanted to thank all those who do the physically demanding, nasty and dirty work which has made my life and everyone elses a lot easier and enjoyable.
Thank you!
For those unfamiliar with what I do, I work for a small aerospace manufacturing firm which produces forgings used primarily in jet engines and for aircraft structural parts. We manufacture the parts using large hammers, which for lack of a better description, think of as a process similar to a blacksmith making horse shoes. We just do it on a much grander scale, with our largest hammer rated at 50,000 pounds.
It's dirty, noisy, and it is a lot of hard work for the guys who do the actual production of the parts. Fortunately I only have to tell them what temperatures they have to heat the material to, in order to obtain the desired mechanical properties, which I do from a relatively clean and quiet office.
But for some reason today, as I was escorting our customer through the plant, it really seemed to hit home just how hard those guy work, and the environment they have to endure, 10 hours a day, 4 and sometimes 5 days a week. I'm not sure I could have survived very long doing what they do.
Fortunately I don't have to do that, and I sense most people reading this post don't either. But there are many in society who do, and I think it is important that we don't lose sight of just how much every American has and still contributes to the well being of society.
I was going to say a lot more on this subject, and even started a little political rant, but I decided against that, and instead just wanted to thank all those who do the physically demanding, nasty and dirty work which has made my life and everyone elses a lot easier and enjoyable.
Thank you!
Comments
Not only do they work hard, but they endanger their lives every day to earn a living.
Speaking of blacksmiths, Bubba got new shoes today.
It's a beautiful day outside. Gotta ride!