Stories of visits to great manufacturing facilities

[adammil1]

They work closely with the technical college in Bologna, donating new machinery to the school, recommending course requirements, and then hiring graduates, usually for life.

All in all- its just boggles the mind that the Italians, with all their problems, and high taxes, wages, and government rules, dominate this market. Sure, you can buy cheap chinese versions of some, but not all of their products. But the difference in quality, lifespan, and accuracy makes the Italians still sell a lot.

Here is a cool video of a tile factory in Loudon Tennessee- full of SACMI machines. The Most Modern Tile Factory in the World - YouTube

Hi Ries,

Not Italian but close enough (German) Here's a really cool factory tour I saw on youtube and found quite fascinating.INCREDIBLE 5-Axis Machines: Hermle Factory Tour! - YouTube. The part I found most interesting was learning about their apprenticeships. I came across this this Youtube at an interesting time. My company was bidding on a machine to go to a German aircraft maintenance shop almost on the same level of Delta's. As part of the bid we went over and toured their facility and met with the German team. It was quite humbling to see was a product built by a German competitor.

Sitting in the slot right next to where our machine was likely to go was what had to be on of the most gorgeous looking machines I had ever seen in our line of work. The machines that we build have a lot of field routed plumbing/hoses that aren't done in CAD but yet developed on the machine itself during assembly and that was where the artistic nature of the German machinery really sparkled.

My company hires machine builders most come in off the street with no experience. Typically they are diesel mechanics, plant mechanics and or other trades. They are all great guys but there is no real formal apprentice, just plain old OJT. Seeing what the Germans did really made me want to go back and up our game. We still won the next job as we knew the line of work better than the local competition but I know the Germans aren't nearly as thrilled with our craftsmanship. It wasn't until I watched that video of Hermle until I realized the depth of German training/apprenticeship programs.

If the job ever picks up again (They have put the project on indefinite hold until Covid is over) I have already lined up our best talent and are hoping we can show that we too can build similar quality machinery.

A lot has to be said for the quality of their worker training and apprenticeship programs over there. I do wonder is if the apprenticeships can stifle creativity and harm worker mobility. I know in my career I stumbled to get a good footing and took some time to find the right spot for myself. I wonder how many guys make one misstep in their career choice over there and find themselves pigeon holed and trapped?

When I related seeing the difference in quality of German made equipment and commented about watching the YouTube video to a coworker who spent years working for a German company he had a good laugh. He told me that the Germans are huge into their apprenticeships. Said while he was over there he was even told that their prostitutes go thru formal apprenticeships (go figure) and I don't think he was joking! He went on to tell me that when he worked for the German company they used to joke that America was Germany's Mexico.

The one other thing I have noticed about the Germany labor culture and approach to machine design is how far they will go to automate people out of a job. They purchased an option from us to automate a portion of the machine's function that takes about 5-10mins of human interaction every 4-5hrs and we priced the option at $350,000. I couldn't for the life of me understand the ROI until the customer explained to me that even thou the task is expected to take 5-10mins of time they figure that unlike here in the USA where one operator runs a machine they expect one operator to run 3-4machines and if the machine sits idling for an 1-2hours waiting on an operator to come by than that is the true cost of the savings not the 5-10mins of labor. It makes good sense but the level the Germans go to remove a human from a job due to their labor laws was rather surprising.

 

[Ries]

Hi Ries,

Not Italian but close enough (German) Here's a really cool factory tour I saw on youtube and found quite fascinating.INCREDIBLE 5-Axis Machines: Hermle Factory Tour! - YouTube. The part I found most interesting was learning about their apprenticeships. I came across this this Youtube at an interesting time. My company was bidding on a machine to go to a German aircraft maintenance shop almost on the same level of Delta's. As part of the bid we went over and toured their facility and met with the German team. It was quite humbling to see was a product built by a German competitor.

Sitting in the slot right next to where our machine was likely to go was what had to be on of the most gorgeous looking machines I had ever seen in our line of work. The machines that we build have a lot of field routed plumbing/hoses that aren't done in CAD but yet developed on the machine itself during assembly and that was where the artistic nature of the German machinery really sparkled.

My company hires machine builders most come in off the street with no experience. Typically they are diesel mechanics, plant mechanics and or other trades. They are all great guys but there is no real formal apprentice, just plain old OJT. Seeing what the Germans did really made me want to go back and up our game. We still won the next job as we knew the line of work better than the local competition but I know the Germans aren't nearly as thrilled with our craftsmanship. It wasn't until I watched that video of Hermle until I realized the depth of German training/apprenticeship programs.

If the job ever picks up again (They have put the project on indefinite hold until Covid is over) I have already lined up our best talent and are hoping we can show that we too can build similar quality machinery.

A lot has to be said for the quality of their worker training and apprenticeship programs over there. I do wonder is if the apprenticeships can stifle creativity and harm worker mobility. I know in my career I stumbled to get a good footing and took some time to find the right spot for myself. I wonder how many guys make one misstep in their career choice over there and find themselves pigeon holed and trapped?

When I related seeing the difference in quality of German made equipment and commented about watching the YouTube video to a coworker who spent years working for a German company he had a good laugh. He told me that the Germans are huge into their apprenticeships. Said while he was over there he was even told that their prostitutes go thru formal apprenticeships (go figure) and I don't think he was joking! He went on to tell me that when he worked for the German company they used to joke that America was Germany's Mexico.

The one other thing I have noticed about the Germany labor culture and approach to machine design is how far they will go to automate people out of a job. They purchased an option from us to automate a portion of the machine's function that takes about 5-10mins of human interaction every 4-5hrs and we priced the option at $350,000. I couldn't for the life of me understand the ROI until the customer explained to me that even thou the task is expected to take 5-10mins of time they figure that unlike here in the USA where one operator runs a machine they expect one operator to run 3-4machines and if the machine sits idling for an 1-2hours waiting on an operator to come by than that is the true cost of the savings not the 5-10mins of labor. It makes good sense but the level the Germans go to remove a human from a job due to their labor laws was rather surprising.

Tis True- the Germans sweat the small stuff, and they believe in education.
I have a few small simple german machines in the shop- and everything about them is excellent.
I have a crazy single axis CNC ornamental iron twisting machine, for instance- and it is built like a tank. Everything is sturdy, precise, and will outlast me. Of course, it comes at a price- most US ornamental shops use a vise and a wrench- and this thing cost a LOT. It took 3 months to get here, as it was built to order, and travelled in a crate about the size of VW bug. But every time I use it, its a pleasure.

The idea of most workers is NOT "worker mobility". In the italian factories I was in, the idea of working at one shop for life, with pension, health care, and high salaries, was the goal, it was a feature, not a bug. Which used to be the case in the USA, too. Most of my older relatives were quite happy not to constantly be worrying about their next job.
The Italian, and the German, schools, are kind of equivalent to our community colleges- state paid for, but supported heavily by industry. That is starting to happen in my state- the local companies actually donate machinery and money to some of my local CC's, and then hire grads. The europeans have been doing this for decades. They influence the circullums, and get employees who already know what to do- senior year students usually start working at factories and going to school, half an half, in Italy. This is a part of national industrial policy, and it helps everybody- workers, business, and government, which is why the Germans and Italians and Dutch and French all do it.