Have You ever worked in a manufacturing, assembly or warehouse facility?

[NOVA Green]

So curious how many Atlasians have ever worked in manufacturing, assembly and warehouse facilities...

There are many Large, Medium, and Smaller facilities where there might be a wide variety of occupational specializations and backgrounds for example....

For example, to put it into context, I worked at a 3.5 Million GSF facility with >9k employees that included everything from cleanroom activities all the way to intermediate and final assembly, but there were still a boatload of engineers, techs, clerical, business services, etc... occupations within the facility.

We can look at other contexts such as warehouse and supply-chain work and we can see similar but differences in terms of the occupational base.

Even in many smaller businesses, like several of my friends have worked for as welders for example, there is a skilled labor component combined with an engineering and design component as well.

We can look at the trucking and transportation sector and there are obvious overlaps since every time you roll into the inbound or outbound loading docks you are connecting and touching the lives of the workers within these industries.

So.. it is a multiple choice up to four options (And apologies if I neglected some specializations within my questions, but the "No" answer is basically clearcut.

Definitions:

1.) " I worked the Line"---- Well basically that almost speaks for itself. Conveyor belts that run 3x the length of the plant, processing product as it rolls down the belt, pulling product off the belt to roll into trailers, operating forklifts and heavy machinery to move product, etc...

2.) Tech/Skilled Labor--- Ok.... You fix and repair the machines, you provide specialized skills, many of which require a 1-2 year vocational certification (Welder, Machinist, ) but basically focus more on operating, repairing and maintaining the machines from a higher skill-set.

3.) Trucking/Suppliers--- So you have a CDL to operate an 18 wheeler, or you work food service or landscaping, pest control, or various other business services within such a facility.

4.) Mgmt/Clerical/Engineer---- This basically includes much of the "White Collar" or "Pink Collar" functions of such facilities.... You could be anything from a CAD jockey to a Mechanical Engineer, to an Admin, Procurement Specialist, IT guru, Lawyer, etc.... but the rules are you would have to have been directly based physically in that facility.

5.) No--- Self evident. You have never worked in an MFG/Assembly/Warehouse facility

Please vote and reply with your own personal anecdotes and stories,

[Kung Fu Kenny]

Yup! I spent my summer in a machine shop assembling pieces for roll forming machines

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

I've done electrical work with my uncle, and at least one job happened to be in a facility that had many features of a warehouse. I've worked other "blue collar" type jobs before, but very few with a heavy indoor component.

[NOVA Green]

Thx--- Senator R2D2, Mondale 1, and Cathcon for your responses...   

I spent most of the past 20 years of my work career in such environments, and just recently started working the line/belt as part of an occupational shift.

In my mind, there is no question that working in these types of environments has an impact in terms of self and collective identity, particularly in larger industrial settings, that are difficult to understand for those that have not experienced this type of work environment.

Additionally, I suspect that longer term employees within various industries, start to identify with some of the economic interests of their various employers, especially with items such as Seniority (Regardless of Union vs Non-Union facility) start to play a heavy role in terms of self-identity within a work environment, where for many this is the best way of climbing the ladder towards potential future economic success.

Meanwhile. such facilities typically have a high level of contractors and temp labor that are "flexed, and frequently, as I have recently experienced the gap between "Temp" workers that have been there for 6-12 months vs "New Hires" is basically a $4/Hr differential....

So, I'm also curious if anyone on the Forum has insights as to the "contracting out" vs "company direct hire" model, since I have observed all sorts of patterns over the past 20 years of working in large facilities.

[Mr. Smith]

Very briefly, it was part of my duties as a campus groundskeeper to take things to a warehouse subcontracted out to the University. This was only for my final semester though.

Lots of trucking of all sorts of old furniture and appliances and chemicals.

[RFayette]

Only as a dishwasher to get some supplies from a warehouse. 

[Tender Branson]

Only briefly.

I have mostly worked in white-collar jobs (logistics, sales and administration), but during high school summer holidays I worked with the janitor in the local retirement home. That's the most blue-collor job I ever did.

[Ban my account ffs!]

Yes.  It wasn't too bad because each piece required measuring/cutting/ironing/affixing and each piece was custom so there was always something "new".

[NOVA Green]

Thks LD Smith, Tender, and Snowguy for taking the additional step of posting rather than simply just voting....

It is interesting to see the extremely high number of "no" votes (Not that there is anything wrong with that at all in any way shape or form--- but I suspect that in some ways that is perhaps reflective of the heavily Millennial population of the Forum, and simply these types of jobs are generally less common to younger members of the workforce, and also potentially a generally higher than average educational level  that tends to be more directly correlated with large urban areas, and also a much higher rate of participation in more "white collar", "pink collar" or service type occupations than the national average.

[dead0man]

no, but I did construction (mostly commercial) long enough (~6 months) to know I wanted to do anything else.  I currently do computer maintenance which sometimes requires me doing actual labor like carrying heavy things or crawling under raised floors or bending into positions I'd rather not be in.  Not normally though.

[Tender Branson]

Thks LD Smith, Tender, and Snowguy for taking the additional step of posting rather than simply just voting....

It is interesting to see the extremely high number of "no" votes (Not that there is anything wrong with that at all in any way shape or form--- but I suspect that in some ways that is perhaps reflective of the heavily Millennial population of the Forum, and simply these types of jobs are generally less common to younger members of the workforce, and also potentially a generally higher than average educational level  that tends to be more directly correlated with large urban areas, and also a much higher rate of participation in more "white collar", "pink collar" or service type occupations than the national average.

No problem.

While I have almost never worked in blue-collar jobs, my family is almost 60% blue-collar though. My dad was a factory worker, as is one of my uncles and one of my brothers is a construction worker.

[Coolface Sock #42069]

Yeah, I worked at an alcohol distillery for a summer. It was awesome.

[Kingpoleon]

Manager position at a "Austrian"/Narnian sweatshop.

[angus]

I voted for the top two.  The summer after I graduated from high school, I worked in a "Woodshop" which was actually a stake-manufacturing plant.  I used all manner of saws and woodlathes, dodged forklifts, and got many splinters in my fingers.  Later, in summers between university academic years, I worked for a cable TV company one summer that was putting in a new section in a new subdivision.  I did calculations to determine which amplifiers should be placed and where along the line.  I got to wear a hardhat and drive and use a bucket truck.  I think these two qualify me for the top two.  That was in the 1985-89 period. 

[Kingpoleon]

I voted for the top two.  The summer after I graduated from high school, I worked in a "Woodshop" which was actually a stake-manufacturing plant.  I used all manner of saws and woodlathes, dodged forklifts, and got many splinters in my fingers.  Later, in summers between university academic years, I worked for a cable TV company one summer that was putting in a new section in a new subdivision.  I did calculations to determine which amplifiers should be placed and where along the line.  I got to wear a hardhat and drive and use a bucket truck.  I think these two qualify me for the top two.  That was in the 1985-89 period. 

angus has done everything.

[NOVA Green]

no, but I did construction (mostly commercial) long enough (~6 months) to know I wanted to do anything else.  I currently do computer maintenance which sometimes requires me doing actual labor like carrying heavy things or crawling under raised floors or bending into positions I'd rather not be in.  Not normally though.

Yeah--- construction work can be pretty brutal...

One of the guys I work with does that a side gig, since we both work Weekend shift, he has had three separate jobs, including more detailed type construction at a fast food restaurant that burnt down about six months ago for a 3 week Gig through a subcontractor (Decent paying and more skill-sets required), ended up "calling in" to a Temp agency that wanted him to work on a job that paid relative crap wages dealing with some sore of major sheet-rock project on a Farmer's property outside of town, and then just yesterday in the smoking area told me he has a gig that pays him prevailing wages of ~ $40/Hr doing some furniture installation for the School District down in Eugene!!!

Deal with construction isn't just that it's a physical killer on your body, but also it's not a totally stable gig, and "Labor is labor" in that industry.

Also, obviously the safety issues---- One of the guys I hung out with almost daily about 15 years ago fell 12 feet on a Residential Construction job, and although I haven't seen him in slightly over ten years, the Doctors basically said he would be paralyzed from the waist down for life.... :

( Bad s**t anyways you look at it)

Now--- I have had several friends in Computer maintenance in recent years, and frequently their jobs involved going into larger organizations, including smaller size facilities to be the IT  Network "Gurus" for companies that don't have a sufficient demand for "in-house" services....

Maybe you have a few stories there to tell, my friend?

[NOVA Green]

Yeah, I worked at an alcohol distillery for a summer. It was awesome.

Interesting....

What was that like? How large was the facility and what tasks did you perform in your day-to day activities?

I'm assuming their were no free drinks at lunch time, unlike the strike that happened in Belgium not so many years ago where the workers were upset that their free lunchtime brew was being taken away....

[NOVA Green]

Yup! I spent my summer in a machine shop assembling pieces for roll forming machines

Was it a USW Plant in the Rolling Mill? This was in PA I'm assuming?

[NOVA Green]

I voted for the top two.  The summer after I graduated from high school, I worked in a "Woodshop" which was actually a stake-manufacturing plant.  I used all manner of saws and woodlathes, dodged forklifts, and got many splinters in my fingers.  Later, in summers between university academic years, I worked for a cable TV company one summer that was putting in a new section in a new subdivision.  I did calculations to determine which amplifiers should be placed and where along the line.  I got to wear a hardhat and drive and use a bucket truck.  I think these two qualify me for the top two.  That was in the 1985-89 period. 

You have a Decade on me old veteran....

What the heck are you doing these days, if you don't mind my asking....   

[NOVA Green]

Manager position at a "Austrian"/Narnian sweatshop.

WTF--- Kingpoleon are you s**t**g me, or did you really work in Austria???

Been awhile since I checked this thread, but man that sounds like an interesting story....

[Intell]

Being a waiter, cleaner, shop clerk, customer greeter, and other service orientated jobs, (jobs that I used to do) are more in line with being working class in cities these days imo.