American Tubing( ATI) offers employees the opportunity to pave their own career path.
The company makes parts for refrigeration and air conditioning units for companies like Rheem, Lennox and Trane.
“ The company prides itself on providing a good work atmosphere with plenty of opportunities to advance,” said Chuck Lewis, President of American Tubing.“ Advancement is not a matter of luck.”
ATI is more high-tech than what many people picture when they think of a factory.
“ We have a lot of automation and strive to work smarter, not harder,” Lewis said.“ Once our team members get to know the equipment, they become very productive.”
Employees typically begin their career on the production floor, and then advance to the tool room and finally the engineering department. The engineering department designs layouts and machines that will be used to assemble parts for customers.
According to Lewis, the tool room builds the layouts and machines that will be used on the manufacturing floor. Workers make from $ 10 to $ 20 per hour on the floor. Employees in the tool room and engineering departments can make from $ 35,000 to $ 50,000 per year.
Employees who start with some manufacturing experience may be able to skip some entry level positions. Taking high school classes in engineering or manufacturing gives future employees a competitive advantage.
In April 2016, Harvey Reed began his career in the tool room. Reed operates a computer-controlled milling machine. His advanced machinery skills allowed him to skip an entry level position in the manufacturing shop and move up to a more advanced position.
Reed said he learned how to operate the milling machine at Northwest Technical Institute.
Wayne Herbert, a member of the engineering section, recently taught Gustavo Facio how to work a computer aided drafting program, or CAD. The men were working on the layout of a manufacturing station that will assemble parts for a customer.
On the manufacturing floor, many employees oversee several assembly stations, watching robot arms cut parts from rolls and rolls of copper pipe. Other robot arms line up parts to be connected.
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“ I don’ t mind when I see people just watching – it means everything is going good,” Lewis said.“ If I see them working on a machine, it means something has gone wrong or is broken.”