The Industrial Maintenance Man

[MagnumForce]

So much here is so exclusive for guys who wrench on cars all day every day. I don't think everyone get's the needs of us industrial guys.

I am Capital Maintenance at a 100k Sq Ft automotive plant in Northwest Ohio. We make seat frames and parts for just about everyone and are tier 2. In my plant capital maintenance builds things to help production, sets up and tears down things for new/old programs and maintains things like presses, resistance weld chillers, smoke eaters, portable welders, saws, etc also running air and weld gas lines. Basically stuff that doesn't deal directly with production.

Anyway these are the tools of my trade, from my work area with my HF5 drawer to take around the plant that holds all my good stuff and my Craftsman stack back there that has all my fab stuff and basically my backup stuff. All cheaper stuff in here but still handy to have stuff back here as I can go back to my workbench and leave my 5 drawer at the other end of the plant.

Pretty much everything I deal with is SAE and 95% of the fasteners I work with are hex heads. The job requires a lot more Allen Keys and Crescent wrenches than most of you guys would ever imagine or think was prudent. It's a lot different world. 95% of the guys in the shop use Craftsman, it does the job well and is the most convenient thing for us.

Anyone have any questions?

My area, yes that is a solid 6 inch thick 3x7 fab table. Wilton vice there on my bench, 10 inch wide, half inch think steel all the way across the front of my bench. You can't see it but I have a 2 ton overhead crane too on rails above.

Top of my cart, everything from some fabbed brackets I made to install fire suppressant systems in our smoke eaters and all manners of clamps, screws and bolts. Drill index, hammer, pry bars, zip ties, air hoses, extension cords on the side, a lot going on here. Also my hip holster which goes with me everywhere even if I don't have my cart with me. Has an 8 inch adjustable, Channel Lock grip lock pliers, a set of dykes, flashlight, pens, scribe, pocket square and a Fat Max Tape.

All my half inch and three eights stuff, my favorite drawer.
https://scontent-a-ord.**.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfp1/t1.0-9/10441229_10153228038559897_1972750470342728853_n.jpgMy plier drawer, really love the way the Kobalt ones feel and how they work.

Screwdrivers, alignment punchs and another punch chisel roll

The max Axess pass through set can be handy as heck when I am up on a scissor lift 30 feet off the floor, also really handy with threaded rod. 10, 12, and 15 inch Adjustables and end wrenches from 1/4 to 1 1/4 in one way or another and my ever handy allen wrenches.

Ridgid 18 and 14 inch pipe wrenches and Kobalt 14 and 18 inch aluminum ones, levels, lights, more bits, chalk line, dead blow, nut driver set in a box.

I won't go through my other box but most squares and second sets of everything along with any metric stuff I have that may come up from time to time. Also all my quarter inch socket stuff which rarely gets used. Also welding helmet, metabo and air tools are underneath, t handle allens and transfer punches on my work bench.

And finally my trusty Miller 251.

 

[zkling]

Good stuff. I really like your welding table. Just curious you said "5% of the guys use craftsman" what do the other 95% typically use?

 

[MagnumForce]

whoops, should have been 95%!

 

[JDon99]

I'm another industrial guy. I currently work in a glass bottle plant, originally started out in the automotive industry. I work on everything for production.

 

[nine4gmc]

That table is serious!!! Love your setup and tools!

 

[MrJason]

So much here is so exclusive for guys who wrench on cars all day every day. I don't think everyone get's the needs of us industrial guys.

I am Capital Maintenance at a 100k Sq Ft automotive plant in Northwest Ohio. We make seat frames and parts for just about everyone and are tier 2. In my plant capital maintenance builds things to help production, sets up and tears down things for new/old programs and maintains things like presses, resistance weld chillers, smoke eaters, portable welders, saws, etc also running air and weld gas lines. Basically stuff that doesn't deal directly with production.

Anyway these are the tools of my trade, from my work area with my HF5 drawer to take around the plant that holds all my good stuff and my Craftsman stack back there that has all my fab stuff and basically my backup stuff. All cheaper stuff in here but still handy to have stuff back here as I can go back to my workbench and leave my 5 drawer at the other end of the plant.

Pretty much everything I deal with is SAE and 95% of the fasteners I work with are hex heads. The job requires a lot more Allen Keys and Crescent wrenches than most of you guys would ever imagine or think was prudent. It's a lot different world. 95% of the guys in the shop use Craftsman, it does the job well and is the most convenient thing for us.

Anyone have any questions?

My area, yes that is a solid 6 inch think 3x7 fab table. Wilton vice there on my bench, 10 inch wide, half inch think steel all the way across the front of my bench. You can't see it but I have a 2 ton overhead crane too on rails above.

Top of my cart, everything from some fabbed brackets I made to install fire suppressant systems in our smoke eaters and all manners of clamps, screws and bolts. Drill index, hammer, pry bars, zip ties, air hoses, extension cords on the side, a lot going on here. Also my hip holster which goes with me everywhere even if I don't have my cart with me. Has an 8 inch adjustable, Channel Lock grip lock pliers, a set of dykes, flashlight, pens, scribe, pocket square and a Fat Max Tape.

All my half inch and three eights stuff, my favorite drawer.
https://scontent-a-ord.**.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfp1/t1.0-9/10441229_10153228038559897_1972750470342728853_n.jpgMy plier drawer, really love the way the Kobalt ones feel and how they work.

Screwdrivers, alignment punchs and another punch chisel roll

The max Axess pass through set can be handy as heck when I am up on a scissor lift 30 feet off the floor, also really handy with threaded rod. 10, 12, and 15 inch Adjustables and end wrenches from 1/4 to 1 1/4 in one way or another and my ever handy allen wrenches.

Ridgid 18 and 14 inch pipe wrenches and Kobalt 14 and 18 inch aluminum ones, levels, lights, more bits, chalk line, dead blow, nut driver set in a box.

I won't go through my other box but most squares and second sets of everything along with any metric stuff I have that may come up from time to time. Also all my quarter inch socket stuff which rarely gets used. Also welding helmet, metabo and air tools are underneath, t handle allens and transfer punches on my work bench.

And finally my trusty Miller 251.

I have a great amount of respect for you and your setup. My father was an Industrial Maintenance Engineer, and didn't buy conventional tools, like some of the auto mechanics did.

Thank you for bringing your perspective to GJ, it is necessary and appreciated.

Jason

 

[kngelv]

Another industrial maintenance guy here. Electrician at Ford.

James

 

[sonvolt]

My set up is very similar, I set up machine tools.

 

[David W]

I worked industrial maintenance for a few years at a couple of different jobs. That shop looks very clean and spacious. The shop at my last job was very tiny, enough that they were somewhat annoyed at me bringing in a 29" Kennedy and not having any real space to put it.
Ive heard of some places with such crappy floors that aftermarket casters and a dolly made of heavy angle iron were mandatory on your tool box if you wanted to roll it around anywhere.
Like that welding table, it rules!

 

[KamiCrit]

Would you industrial mechanics call your selves millwrights? I'm starting the millwright foundation program soon and this kind of work really interests me.

Also, what's with the lack of Proto? Aren't they the industrial standard!

 

[kiatech]

Would you industrial mechanics call your selves millwrights? I'm starting the millwright foundation program soon and this kind of work really interests me.

Also, what's with the lack of Proto? Aren't they the industrial standard!

employer usually buys proto.

 

[Elvenhome21]

It really is funny how a mechanic drags around a toolbox in the plant with tons of wrenchs and sockets yet 90% of the time an adjustable and channel locks is the go to tool.

 

[Bob-B]

I worked industrial maintenance many years ago thru high school and college. It was at a metal stamping company, back in the mid 70's. We had about 8 maintenance machinists/mechanics. There was a separate plant maintenance department with electricians, plumbers, carpenters, general mechanics, and a few cleaners. They took care of the building, the boilers, the forklifts, and the air compressors.

We were responsible for all production and support machinery. We worked on (repaired and rebuilt) everything including OBI power presses, Waterbury Farrel cam eyelet presses, lathes, mills, water and dry tumblers. We also built any new equipment designed by our engineers. We also did all machining for the general maintenance department. The Die Shop took care of all press tooling.

Tool wise, we had our machinist boxes at that time a 50/50 mix of Gerstner and Kennedy parked on the bench. No one had a rollaway, but used a top box on top of a company supplied 3 shelf cart. The tool brands were a mix of old school industrial names such as Williams, SK, Armstrong, Krauter. Craftsman was just becoming popular with the new guys. The guys I worked with already had 20+ years in at that time.

As a young gear head studying machine design / mechanical engineering, it was the best hands-on experience I could possible get.

 

[franzdom]

In our plant I don't think anyone has to bring in tools, it seems odd for a maintenance guy on hourly/salary.

 

[gipraw]

Thanks for posting. I love your fab table and how organized you have everything in your cart.

 

[arms1970]

Control valve mechanic/foreman here.

 

[shanny19]

I like your setup, looks like a fun job.

Curious though, if guys like the OP aren't using Proto and Armstrong these days, exactly who is??????? (besides me, of course )

 

[franzdom]

In our plant much of the maintenance and prototyping is done with Craftsman, SK, Snap-On, while the production floor is filled with Proto. Also for battery tools, very popular here both used to use DeWalt now mostly replaced with Milwaukee.

 

[MagnumForce]

It really is funny how a mechanic drags around a toolbox in the plant with tons of wrenchs and sockets yet 90% of the time an adjustable and channel locks is the go to tool.

I use a real wrench if if I can, I never use channel locks on a fastener unless that is the absolute last option, use the to bend tabs or grab stuff though. As capital maintenance my job is a lot more eclectic than production maintenance too. I have use for and use everything in my cart. I only use adjustable wrenches on pipe fittings and stuff like that. Most jobs is an allen key or socket with a wrench on the nut on the backside

As for other questions, we don't call ourselves millwrights, we do have machinists. We go Craftsman because it is reliable and easy to get and does the job very well. Power tools are exclusively Dewalt and Milwaukee. I also do machining and we have 2 CNC mills, a lathe, heat treater and a couple saws in our shop. Our shop is in the back corner of the plant and the other end of the plant is a quarter of a mile away. Some kind of cart is a necessity although most guys just have a shop provided rubber maid cart they throw what they need on. I am the only guy with a set up like mine.

Die setter is also in my area along with one other guy who is in capital maintenance. Building maintenance is across the aisle and they take care of forklifts or anything else that moves along with building and grounds cardboard balers and stuff like that.

We have another facility across the parking lot where we build all our machines, do tooling, machining, engineering etc.

I don't know of any place around here where maintenance doesn't have to provide their own tools. It just comes with the territory.

 

[MagnumForce]

I like your setup, looks like a fun job.

Curious though, if guys like the OP aren't using Proto and Armstrong these days, exactly who is??????? (besides me, of course )

It is fun, always something different, I can rebuild a hydraulic pump one day, fab some odd time saver/back saver for production the next and be a pipe fitter the next. The only thing more eclectic is being a farmer.

 

[atwageman]

Yep. Everyday can be something different. Rebuilding gear boxes one minute, to programming or replacing PLC's the next. Or fiddling around with some pneumatic or hydraulic stuff.

 

[bob15]

Just curious if they just bought new tools for you? Everything in your box looks brand new.....or just about

 

[Advan]

I'm a union millwright, so I never spend much time in one plant. Also more tearouts/new installations than "maintenance", but we'll do anything we're asked! You got it right on the tools, a lot of Proto, Gray, Jet, and Craftsman. Also a surprising amount of tools most would consider cheap ****. Some people need $50,000 worth of Snap-On to fix Dodge Neons, but we rebuild gas turbines with with Taiwanese wrenches all the time...

 

[MagnumForce]

Just curious if they just bought new tools for you? Everything in your box looks brand new.....or just about

I didn't show you anything in my craftsman stack...

I have been a fabricator for years and have only been in this position for a year now, Most of the stuff in that box is around a year old, the stuff in my other box I have had at work for years and most of it is cheaper stuff because I rarely used it and did not want to spend much money on it. Now that I use the stuff constantly I want the good stuff, plus I am really proud of my tools. I take really good care of them and clean and clean them after use. We have this stuff called syndet that is an industrial degreaser and keeps things looking like brand new forever. My combos are close to 10 years old and so are my 3/8 sockets.

Only thing we don't have to buy for ourselves is bigger stuff, 3/4 and 1 inch drive stuff, 36 inch pipe wrenches, giant dead blows, sledge hammers, power tools and air tools. Stuff like that.

 

[MagnumForce]

I'm a union millwright, so I never spend much time in one plant. Also more tearouts/new installations than "maintenance", but we'll do anything we're asked! You got it right on the tools, a lot of Proto, Gray, Jet, and Craftsman. Also a surprising amount of tools most would consider cheap ****. Some people need $50,000 worth of Snap-On to fix Dodge Neons, but we rebuild gas turbines with with Taiwanese wrenches all the time...

I don't even like to think about how much the stuff I work on costs. Just like my fab table, how much does a 3' x 7' x 6" slab cost? Gotta spend money to make money. We have million dollar presses and 200,000 dollar robotic weld cells. It is really insane.

We bottomed a press out a few weeks ago and could not get the thing to move from the bottom of the stroke. Die setter set the stops too low. Die protection worked but 4 of us spent two days cutting the press linkage apart with a torch to get it to move and then we have to buy everything new to replace it all. This was easily a 10 grand ef up and it is pretty normal stuff. No one was admonished or written up or anything. Just the cost of business.

If production goes down on one machine there are 20 people getting paid 15 bucks an hour to stand there until it gets fixed and then come in on a Saturday to make up for lost production at 22.50. If anything time is more money to us than it is for a guy wrenching on cars. The tools we use never fail us and I bet my craftsman stuff takes way more punishment than someones snap on stuff that costs 5 times as much and is used to change an alternator.

 

[BikerDad]

We bottomed a press out a few weeks ago and could not get the thing to move from the bottom of the stroke.

Where my son works, the presses don't bottom out. They explode.

Most places, the presses are rated by pounds/square inch. Theirs are rated in tons/square inch. When one blows, the university seismology lab calls over to confirm, otherwise they've captured a genuine tremor. The lab is over a mile away.

I suspect that my brother's jobs have been similar to yours, as, for that matter, has my step-father's. My brother has worked as a maintenance engineer at a pepperoni plant, a Quik-Crete facility, and a ear swab (aka q-tip) plant, and is currently working on a revamp of the conveyor system at a mine. Step father worked as a maintenance engineer (not janitor) in Las Vegas resorts for years before heading over to Hawaii to keep the machinery in a sugar mill running. When the mill closed (yes folks, there is no "H" left in C&H Sugar), they started up a restaurant equipment service and supply company. Gotta keep those deli slicers and coffee machines running.

 

[bobcatdan]

Would you industrial mechanics call your selves millwrights? I'm starting the millwright foundation program soon and this kind of work really interests me.

Also, what's with the lack of Proto? Aren't they the industrial standard!

I work in a foundry, my location kinda gives it away which one. Shop supplied tools are a mix of Williams, SO, Armstrong and Proto. Employee supplied tools are generally craftsman at best. A lot of guys ***** craftsman is too expensive. I'm the odd guy there with the only SO tool box out of a 100 or so craftsman boxes between eight shops on site.

 

[atwageman]

Except for consumables and little exception on tools, I supply my own tools. Depending on where a person works, it seems to vary greatly if and what the employee has to get on his own far as tools.

The money a plant has ******* in machinery is mind boggling at times. When a plant removes equipment from service, many times it has to be disassembled with the intention that it's gonna be put back together. Simply because they may have sold it off to another plant or a company that specializes in the sale of used and refurbished machines. Sometimes the cost to decommission machines can be very expensive in itself.

 

[fao110]

How would you like to work at a plant that required you to have a large amount off tools but would not permit you to have a roll around tool box. You had to carry every thing with you when you went home stuff everything in a very small locker.

 

[atwageman]

How would you like to work at a plant that required you to have a large amount off tools but would not permit you to have a roll around tool box. You had to carry every thing with you when you went home stuff everything in a very small locker.

Companies who pull **** like that also sometimes wonder why they have labor or union problems over the simplest of ****. With that said the contracts I deal with have **** in them that deal with assanine things. It's sad when you have to write into a contract stupid **** like this, but sometimes you have to.

I'm a non union guy, but I have taken a few ques over the years from union guys on how to deal with out right stupidity from management in some plants. Everything needs to be on paper right down to the most assanine stuff.

Everything from roll cabs to **** breaks, to lunch breaks. Even $$$$ penalties to plant if they hold me up from doing what I have to do.

Oh you want the machine I'm installing to be placed 5ft over from the original agreed spot. No problem, that's what we call a $$$$change order$$$$. Oh and I need to wait an additional 5 days because you have to move something out of the way. No problem. It's this much $$$$$ per day while I sit in a hotel somewhere waiting for you to **** or get off the the pot.

It's rare for me to have to deal with scenarios like that, but mechanisms are in place on the contracts to deal with it in case it happens.

 

[David W]

How would you like to work at a plant that required you to have a large amount off tools but would not permit you to have a roll around tool box. You had to carry every thing with you when you went home stuff everything in a very small locker.

That would ****. What is the rationale for that? No space to roll it around? No space in the shop to park it? Management tired of hearing lippy comments to the effect of "tool boxes have wheels for a reason" every time somebody quits?

 

[mrjaw14]

I'm surprised I don't see a lot of wright or Williams here. Thought they were bigger in industrial settings along with Proto.

just out of curiosity, what are the requirements to get a plant maintenance job? I'm in IT, but I love working with tools. I miss technician jobs I had when I was in my late teens early 20's where I actually used my tools. Been wondering about a maintenance job for a while now but didn't know the base requirements to get in

 

[game]

I supply calibration equipment to a lot of industrial customers so I get to work with a lot of Industrial Maintenance and Intrumentation/Calibration Technicians.

I just love visiting all the work shops and seeing what they have in the drawers. Some shops use whatever **** they can get their hands on and some shops have setups that look like a GJ show off thread.

 

[MagnumForce]

I'm surprised I don't see a lot of wright or Williams here. Thought they were bigger in industrial settings along with Proto.

just out of curiosity, what are the requirements to get a plant maintenance job? I'm in IT, but I love working with tools. I miss technician jobs I had when I was in my late teens early 20's where I actually used my tools. Been wondering about a maintenance job for a while now but didn't know the base requirements to get in

Most of the guys just went to vo tech in high school for industrial maintenance or the like or have simply been doing it forever. I am kind of unique, I was originally going to be a teacher, came to the plant as summer help 14 years ago and never left. I have held various jobs at the plant since then, even a stint in accounting while going to school part time for it, hated that. Came back out on the floor, became a back up touch up welder, then the go to guy for welding in the plant, finally a fabricator for the last 5 years and now maintenance for the last year.

Capital Maintenance is very fabrication heavy which lent itself well to me, I am really mechanically inclined but have no maintenance background but I have really excelled in my position and the plant manager and maintenance manager raved about me in my last review.

I am 34 years old and have finally figured out what I want to be when I grow up! I absolutely love coming into work every day now. People now come to me for solutions to problems. It makes me feel really good.

 

[sumner52000]

just out of curiosity, what are the requirements to get a plant maintenance job? I'm in IT, but I love working with tools. I miss technician jobs I had when I was in my late teens early 20's where I actually used my tools. Been wondering about a maintenance job for a while now but didn't know the base requirements to get in

My local community college has a 2 year program for Industrial maintenance. Nearly every graduate gets a job in the utility industry at a power plant.

 

[Engine]

...I am 34 years old and have finally figured out what I want to eat when I grow up! I absolutely love coming into work every day now. People now come to me for solutions to problems. It makes me feel really good.

You are a very fortunate individual to be in that position.

 

[atwageman]

I am 34 years old and have finally figured out what I want to be when I grow up! I absolutely love coming into work every day now. People now come to me for solutions to problems. It makes me feel really good.

Yep. This is a very good position to be in......people coming to you for solutions.

 

[MagnumForce]

Yep. This is a very good position to be in......people coming to you for solutions.

It can be a blessing and a curse!

 

[David W]

I'm surprised I don't see a lot of wright or Williams here. Thought they were bigger in industrial settings along with Proto.

In a situation where you supply your own tools, it's mostly craftsman. It's reasonably priced, just good enough quality and readily available with a Sears store in every town.

The Wright, Proto, etc is not readily available except at maybe Grainger. And Grainger can be a real pita to deal with if your not dealing on behalf of your company.

Also remember, we are not flat rate. If we break a tool and have extended downtime, it's not money out of our pocket, at least not directly. We are on the clock whether we are working on anything or not.

Regretably, most guys are not tool hounds, snobs, collectors, polishers or have any more than a minimal appreciation for good tools. They all mostly would rather spend on boats, cars, motorcycles or whatever. Everybody has their one "thing" that they really like and appreciate and are not willing to settle for second best on and in this trade, tools and snap on tool boxes ain't it.

 

[Bob-B]

We could by tools thru the company's account with the local industrial supplier. The company got a discount and had a tax id number so there was no sales tax. You could either pay cash or have them deduct it from your check. I bought a lot of tools that way.

Even today, I'll buy tools and supplies from MSC thru my current employer's account when they run one of their sales, and give the money to accounting when it arrives. We do A LOT of business with them.