Today's advanced manufacturing -- it's not dirty or dangerous and the people you work with are pretty cool.
That was the message
Flowserve officials and employees repeated as they offered a recent tour through their facility to show off exactly how precise their work is and how skilled their employees are.
Mark Welch, of Flowserve, asked the assembled group to pay attention to the clean, well-lit conditions of the facility and the skill of the workers. "Help us get out the message out," Welch said.
What do they do at Flowserve? Basically, the company makes seals of all sizes for pumps. "Our seals keep the wet side wet and the dry side dry," Welch said.
In the last two years, the company has invested $3 million locally and hired more than 25 people. Another 100 people moved to better jobs. Knowing they have the opportunity to bid on better jobs is good for the financial security of the operation and morale of the organization, Welch said.
The opportunities for internships and various training programs, including one offered by Kalamazoo Valley Community College, also were detailed.
The tour offered a look at the various steps along the way that go into making those seals of many sizes including the large, precise machinery needed to respond to customer's needs.
It also offered a chance to talk to some of the employees Welch mentioned who had moved to jobs they bid on. In the C&C Saw and C&C Lathe department (Flowserve calls them cells) Josh Iocca described how he decided he wanted to move from being a C&C operator to an engineer and took classes at Western Michigan University so he could.
"I was a planner and I had no manufacturing background," said Iocca. "But I wanted to lead people. The opportunity is here for employees who demonstrate the correct behaviors. This is a very professional environment, really."
Writer: Kathy Jennings, Second Wave Media
Source: Mark Welch, Flowserve
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