Helping employees avoid the daily grind in the metal shop

Grinding the edges of plasma-cut parts to remove slag can be a grueling job. That's why it's usually an entry-level job in a fab shop—and usually a good reason not to want to work at a metal fabricating company. nortonrsx/iStock/Getty Images

It could have been any precision sheet metal shop in North America. The shop had a new laser cutting machine and parts were flying off of it, creating plenty of work-in-process for downstream operations. It was something that I had seen plenty of times before.

But as I turned the corner to get a better look at the laser-cut parts being unloaded onto pallets, I saw seven people manually grinding the edges of parts fresh from the laser cutting machine. They used hand grinders on all of the exposed edges, removing the sharp edge in an attempt to prevent unwanted cuts.

It was like watching impromptu performance art. Everyone moved in different directions, bodies hunched over as they leaned into the grinder and then stood upright again as they went to tackle another edge. Sparks flew from abrasive disks removing metal from the parts.

Seeing this manual activity juxtaposed with the modern laser cutting machine and its automated material handling capabilities, easily worth $1 million or more, was a bit shocking. Should we expect more from an industry trying to recruit a new generation of manufacturing workers?

Of course we can expect more, but sometimes reality has other plans. Many shops invest where they can, and sometimes manual activities remain a part of the mix because that’s not a high priority. Everyone has to start somewhere in a metal fabricating company, and many times that’s going to be manual deburring or parts cleaning.

That’s OK, but different times call for different ways of thinking. That holds true especially nowadays as all businesses, not just manufacturing companies, are competing for the same workers. When people feel they have a plethora of employment options, as they do in today’s labor market, they will leave a job for what might be considered the most insignificant of reasons.

O’Neal Manufacturing Services (OMS) acknowledged the fact that they needed to do something about their deslagging activities at its Greensboro, N.C., facility in 2017. OMS wanted to improve part edge quality and streamline the manual parts cleaning of its plasma-cut parts, so it purchased automated deslagging, surface grinding, and edge preparation equipment. But they also recognized that the reality of consistently finding more than 30 people, which at the time they were employing to manually clean plasma-cut part edges, was going to be an increasingly difficult challenge.

The parts cleaning area also held the potential for injuries. Muscle strain, smashed fingers, and cuts were some of the safety concerns.

In 2017 OMS moved to machines that automated the deslagging, grinding, and edge rounding, and the impact has been substantial. Because of the variety of work—some manual deslagging and some machine operation—people actually want to work in the area.

When talking with other metal fabricating companies, I’ve learned that their management teams are starting to view parts cleaning as a possible recruitment area for welders. Fab shops have been looking for skilled welders for years now, but it’s gotten particularly hard nowadays as every business is looking for workers. This in-house collection of entry-level workers is a good pond to go fishing for new welders, especially if the company has an in-house training program or an arrangement with a local training institution.

This makes incredible sense for the parts cleaners because they are learning a new skill that often comes with a higher wage. The employer gets a multiskilled employee, and the entry-level worker learns how to weld, one of the most in-demand skills in the manufacturing sector.

Metal fabricating companies will never be able to eliminate all manual grinding of parts, but it does make sense to minimize it as much as possible, whether through automated machinery, flexibility in shop floor assignments, or clear growth paths for those that start out in parts cleaning. Young people have different expectations of what work means, and it certainly doesn’t involve doing the same exhausting task day after day with little knowledge of what might await them in the near future.

Modern manufacturing is all about the minimization of dull tasks and doing what’s best to protect and grow the employee. This approach serves metal fabricating companies well because they are developing a skilled, engaged, and perhaps even loyal workforce. But, more importantly, the metal fabricating industry benefits because it reinforces what most people used to associate with manufacturing companies: These businesses are the stepping stone to a better quality of life.