Dirty & Dark Machine Shop? I Don’t Think So.

What does a machine shop look like today?

The floors are dirty, the worker’s hands are all black and the air is so thick you can hardly breathe. What am I describing? The image that comes to mind when our youth and many others think of machine shops and manufacturing.

“They still, unfortunately, perceive manufacturing as dark and dingy, dirty, dead-end careers, and not a pleasant place to be” says Allison Grealis, executive director Women in Manufacturing. Manufacturing and Machine Shops have a serious image problem. This false perception has impacted students pursuing careers in machining, welding, tool & die, and the list goes on.

In a recent post “Getting the Youth Excited about Manufacturing“, we touched on a few things we were doing to encourage students to consider working in manufacturing. In this post we are going to illustrate what a machine shop really looks like in 2014. It is not the place your grandpa use to work in back in the 70s. Technology and innovation are at the forefront of manufacturing.

The floors are clean, the shop is well lit, and materials and machines are organized.

The machines are powerful and capable of cutting out objects at incredible speeds.

Our shop consists of vertical machining centres, horizontal high speed production CNC, multi-spindle lathes, etc.

Our MATRIX Tool Crib. A locked bin that stores tools by an electronically controlled management software.