So what's your "real" job?

[stihl_head1982]

Taste tester at Kwispy Kweeme.

 

[N8TE]

Taste tester at Kwispy Kweeme.

Nyuck, nyuck, nyuck

 

[StuntCockWelder]

Fitter/welder at BP/Exxon/ and citgo refineries

 

[Fruecrue]

View attachment 223709 View attachment 223710 View attachment 223711Fitter/welder at BP/Exxon/ and citgo refineries

Here’s my taint at work!

 

[StuntCockWelder]

View attachment 223747 Here’s my taint at work!View attachment 223748[/QUOTE
Hell yeah!

 

[stihl livin]

View attachment 223747 Here’s my taint at work!View attachment 223748

That is not a bad weld for a plumber

 

[Mastermind]

That is not a bad weld for a plumber

And.....it's on.

 

[Fruecrue]

That is not a bad weld for a plumber

 

[Dub11]

Oh? Is that like a fancy name for a plumber?

I raffed

I am a water treatment operator and water distribution and a new member here wanting to learn how to work on my own chainsaws and hopefully acquire some new saws.

Welcome!!
@czar800 does the same work and @mettee is some where in Arizona too

View attachment 223709 View attachment 223710 View attachment 223711Fitter/welder at BP/Exxon/ and citgo refineries

Hookers and blow eh, now I see why the solo is 4 sail.

That is not a bad weld for a plumber

 

[DuratecMan10]

Apprentice mechanic. My goal is to become ASE certified and have my own shop one day. Getting familiar with everything (transmissions, body work, welding, tire installs, air conditioning, electrical ect) and loving it!

 

[TNason01]

Projects Coordinator/admin at a Height Safety company. Little bit of fabrication (aluminium) and installation on occasion; ladders, platforms, stairs, anchors handrails etc.
Still learning the ropes, first job and only been there 18 months.

 

[OC455]

Jarhead back in the early 90's, (engineer & MSG), worked overseas security gigs afterwards, came back home worked odd jobs and then started in LE. Currently a Deputy in NY....can't wait to be done......

 

[ayoungtexan]

I’m 15 so don’t have a job, been wanting to be a surgeon.

 

[Lcfd1124]

Full time fireman for 20 years. Full time father for 17 years, and part time 2 stroke mechanic.

 

[Kiwioilboiler]

I'm currently an Oil Refinery process operator. Do both plant and control-room jobs. Been here 12 years. Make fuel for a living, burn it for recreation in saws, ope, dirt-bike and boats. All 2 stroke.

Before that i spent 14 years in the Retail tyre industry. Wheels, tyres, alignment and suspension.

Adam.

 

[Dieselshawn]

I drive big rigs and wrench on them. Been doing that 6 years now.

 

[Kiwioilboiler]

I don't think that line of thinking is entirely BS. There is some credence to it...

For a frame of reference as to my "street cred" on the subject, I am currently a Sr Project Manager on a Corporate Engineering team. Started life after the Army as a millwright apprentice, broke out a journeyman 4 yrs later, went on to get a state electrician license, structural, pipe, and pressure vessel welding certs, began working on controls and PLCs, got into machine design work, and somewhere down the road ended up as a foreman, supervisor, manager, etc.

I've worked on every major kind of manufacturing equipment in various industries - graphite, heavy industry, food processing, appliance, automotive, plastic and resin processing handling, paper manufacturing, material handling, etc.

Now I manage plant turnarounds and major capital installations globally - in 2014 & 2015 I built a greenfield plant in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and in years following have decommissioned sites in Canada, Spain, Germany, Italy, Austria, and the US. I've managed equipment installations and plants in China, Singapore, and countless other countries in that neck of the woods.

For a brief period of time, I have been a plant manager and manufacturing director as well but prefer to stay on the engineering side of the equation.

I am the guy they send into a plant when everything is burning down and bleeding cash. I evaluate everything from financial performance down the GL account level to identify critical inputs and cost drivers, to maintenance, engineering, and facility systems. I identify weakness in the entire plant and drop them into 3 primary buckets - people, process, and equipment. I drill down further to determine root cause of system failures and develop a corrective action plan to return the site to profitability. 90+% of the time, the issues are identified as poor morale of the operations employees (production and maintenance) due to a lack of effective plant management, both at the department and site level. So at times, I am the ax man as well. I lay out a personal improvement plant to various leaders in the company, give them a period of time to self-correct, and then when they fail to pass muster, I send them packing. This typically results in me being asked to run the operation in the interim (typically 4-6 months), solicit applicants (both internal and external), select a management team for the site, hire them, and lay out the plan of action for a new management team.

We are a company with over 249 manufacturing sites globally and have a foot print on every continent. So my area of responsibility is wide ranging and I never know where I will end up each month.

I said all that to say this - having worked in every country in the western world and some in the far east and middle east, there is a change happening in manufacturing. It is happening in corporate offices and headquarters from Zurich, Switzerland to Chicago, New York, Dallas, Charlotte, and every other major corporate hub. Tariffs that have been in place and the requirements surrounding both USMCA and the new China trade deal. Where components are sourced, produced, manufactured, assembled, and sold are all being impacted by these deals, some negative and some positive impacts.

• The positive impacts are for the employees - wages are now competitive as the employee now has opportunity to jump ship for greener pastures like never before. This also forces companies to improve the benefits, work schedules, etc.
• The negative impacts have primarily hit the companies - raw materials for the product being produced and sold have increased in price if being sourced OCONUS, which has also translated into a more diversified supply chain and returning some manufacturing to the US, which is then translated in additional job growth, which again increases the opportunity of the employee even further. It is what we refer to as a circular argument or self fulfilling prophesy.

So yes, there is some credence to these trade deals having a drastic impact on the US and European business model, which in turn is benefitting the unemployment sector and the countries these company reside in.

To believe otherwise is contrary to the evidence I have witnessed in every boardroom I have sat in over the last 10 years...

@BangBang77 As an employee of a site currently undergoing a 'Strategic Review' i am only too aware that the arrival of The Hatchet Man is not universally greeted with open arms, and those that bring muffins to a greeting are usually the ones with the most to hide.....

I can only hope that in our situation we are fortunate enough to be evaluated by someone with your breadth of experience (see "90% its managements fault"...) and clarity of communication.

Thank you ever so much for posting this.

Adam.

 

[BangBang77]

@BangBang77 As an employee of a site currently undergoing a 'Strategic Review' i am only too aware that the arrival of The Hatchet Man is not universally greeted with open arms, and those that bring muffins to a greeting are usually the ones with the most to hide.....

I can only hope that in our situation we are fortunate enough to be evaluated by someone with your breadth of experience (see "90% its managements fault"...) and clarity of communication.

Thank you ever so much for posting this.

Adam.

Adam

I hope the site review works out in your favor. Doing what I do has severe consequences for all affected employees. I take that responsibility very seriously and make every effort to turn a site around versus closure. When I was younger and meaner, I just wanted to make a name, now that I've aged some, I just want to make a positive difference.

Most employees just want to go work, do their job, and go home. Management has a tendency to make things harder than they should be through asinine policies and outdated methodologies. Companies have a tendency to place great weight on a fancy business or engineering degree for their management and leave out the critical component of leadership. Contrary to what I was taught in the military, leadership cannot be taught. It is a talent a person is born with or not. You can put lipstick on a pig and train it to run real fast in circles but it will ever going to grace the cover of Vogue or win the Kentucky Derby.

I've always told the employees in the plant's I've been sent into that their future is in their hands. That we are all on the same team and all benefit when the company is profitable. At the end of the day, a company only exists to make a profit and pay dividends to its shareholders. By continuosuly treating employees poorly and thinking they know it all, managers can create a horrible work environment for all. By ineffectively managing the financials, they create a situation that requires immediate course correction to save the site. By ineffectively maintaining equipment, they create a situation where the capital required to return to as-built standards can be insurmountable. By not understanding the basic Six Sigma principle of y = (f)x, where output is a direct function of input (crap in crap out), they fail to understand the input side of the equation and always focus on the output side. And thereby continue to make the same stupid decisions that got them there. Combine poor decision making with ego and pride and the result is the necessity for guys like me to exist.

During this site review, I would recommend you keep an open mind and be willing to try something new. The old adage comes to mind - the definition of stupidity is doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result. Most "hatchet men" are not bad guys, they just have tough choices to make. Most understand that their final report during a site review can have dire consequences for people who didn't run the ship aground but are on board just to make a living for their families. I don't enjoy the position but I've saved a hell of a lot more sites than I've closed. The same can be said for a lot of turnaround guys.

My prayer for this morning is that they sent you a good one.

 

[dgb84]

Testing the flavors?

This made me laugh way too hard.

 

[Larry B]

Adam

I hope the site review works out in your favor. Doing what I do has severe consequences for all affected employees. I take that responsibility very seriously and make every effort to turn a site around versus closure. When I was younger and meaner, I just wanted to make a name, now that I've aged some, I just want to make a positive difference.

Most employees just want to go work, do their job, and go home. Management has a tendency to make things harder than they should be through asinine policies and outdated methodologies. Companies have a tendency to place great weight on a fancy business or engineering degree for their management and leave out the critical component of leadership. Contrary to what I was taught in the military, leadership cannot be taught. It is a talent a person is born with or not. You can put lipstick on a pig and train it to run real fast in circles but it will ever going to grace the cover of Vogue or win the Kentucky Derby.

I've always told the employees in the plant's I've been sent into that their future is in their hands. That we are all on the same team and all benefit when the company is profitable. At the end of the day, a company only exists to make a profit and pay dividends to its shareholders. By continuosuly treating employees poorly and thinking they know it all, managers can create a horrible work environment for all. By ineffectively managing the financials, they create a situation that requires immediate course correction to save the site. By ineffectively maintaining equipment, they create a situation where the capital required to return to as-built standards can be insurmountable. By not understanding the basic Six Sigma principle of y = (f)x, where output is a direct function of input (crap in crap out), they fail to understand the input side of the equation and always focus on the output side. And thereby continue to make the same stupid decisions that got them there. Combine poor decision making with ego and pride and the result is the necessity for guys like me to exist.

During this site review, I would recommend you keep an open mind and be willing to try something new. The old adage comes to mind - the definition of stupidity is doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result. Most "hatchet men" are not bad guys, they just have tough choices to make. Most understand that their final report during a site review can have dire consequences for people who didn't run the ship aground but are on board just to make a living for their families. I don't enjoy the position but I've saved a hell of a lot more sites than I've closed. The same can be said for a lot of turnaround guys.

My prayer for this morning is that they sent you a good one.

I was a service rep for a company for 40 years. I saw managers come and go and sales reps changed more than i changed underwear. Every new VP or manager had the "new plan" to fix everthing. Then everthing was managed from afar by corporate. They implemented some of the stupidest policies known to man. An example: All workgroups will have 90% manpower on the street at all times. No exceptions. I was part of a 7 man workgroup and we all had 6 weeks vacation. You do the math. Amazing how the worker bees don't know $h!t about their job since they have only done it for 40 years. Company spent tens of millions on new computer programs to tell us how to do our jobs that didn't work and then blamed the worker bees. 40 years of being on call and 2AM callouts was enough. Now i run a OPE repair shop out of my barn.