The urgent need around the country for Maintenance Technicians-What works for you ?

When companies learn that they need to invest real money in training skilled workers, and the rate of pay starts to equal the level of effort, skills, and knowledge required, the shortage will begin to disappear. Until then guys like me have no trouble finding work.

Bubba.

I agree with this statement!!! I have worked for several companies that want someone with 40 years of experience in (Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, PLC Programming for Allen Bradley-Siemens-Omron-Etc., all from one person and they want to pay him $18.00 an hour. And then they wonder why they can't keep help!

A few years back I posted my resume on "Indeed", as I was wanting to make a change. Now my resume list my education (I have 4 degrees) and it list my work experience (I have over 40yrs of Electronic Engineering) and some of my other achievements (I have FCC License for some communication devices that I invented!)

Now, about 5 months back I got a phone call from a recruiter for a local factory, and he told me I was the perfect choice for an Electronic Assembler, and he could start me out at $12.00. When could I start?

I was very much "INSULTED" and I told him so.

HR departments need to read some of the POST!
 
I teach for the UAW at a major auto plant. The students that I get are motivated but most are in their 40s. I also teach occasionally at a Community College. I told them not to call me again. A lot of reasons but overall CCs are run by academic types that still think that if you are not up to a degree in old English lit you should go to work in a factory. I also help out at a local manufacturer. The assembly foreman will not hire anyone who speaks english. If they are english speakers they cannot pass a wiz quiz, are on their phone all the time, don't listen to directions and often don't even show up. Americans have become lazy.
 
I'm training these guys to take my job.
I like this statement. Training someone to take my job means that I will actually be able to retire someday.🍺🍺 Hopefully soon.
 
It's a multi-faceted problem.

1. People are just plain lazy today and have an entitlement mindset / complex and if they work want to earn $50.00 to piddle around and never get dirty.

2. Corporate greed got rid of all the "unnecessary" in house apprenticeship programs and really can't be created again as good and as cost-effective as before because all the old-timers have walked out the door to retirement and took their priceless knowledge with them because they had nobody to pass it along to.

3. Companies today have unrealistic things they want in a maintenance type employee. They want mechanical, electrical, process control, Millwright, welding and metal fabrication, advanced troubleshooting and in many cases engineer level skills like AutoCAD and system design, etc. Most want a 4-year degree but many will settle for a 2-year technical degree and they want to pay $18.00 hr for this and put you on night shift for the first 5-7 years with 2 weeks vacation and high insurance premiums and low to zero retirement benefits.

4. HR is too involved in the hiring process and in many ways are normally more of a roadblock than a helpful resource. For example, I saw an ad a customer had just placed to hire some people because they sent it to me in case I ran across anyone local looking for a job. They were asking for the laundry list of skills like I have listed above in section 3 but also had in the ad "must-have CNC machining and EDM knowledge"

Now I have been in their plant many times and they have nothing in the zip code of a CNC machine and I doubt anyone on the maintenance team there even knows what an EDM machine is or what it's used for. I would be willing to place a $1000.00 bet on that. It must be something that HR picked up from somewhere? But why is HR writing an AD for a maintenance job without at least having the maintenance team leadership involved?

I see this a lot so it's not an isolated thing. Just MHO.
 
Last edited:
I can't pass this up...30 years in Tier 1 and 2 auto plants has showed me that the almighty dollar is king. Whether its paring down the manpower by management - one place I worked went from a 50 man shop to 16 in 15 years while the equipment became more complex and plentiful - or people leave for more money. Around here, Honda scooped up a lot of skilled trades when they opened. Further, most places don't want to pay their existing people to upgrade skills. Its easier to poach from someone else. Basically, no one is thinking long-term anymore. It's kinda sad really....
 
Now, about 5 months back I got a phone call from a recruiter for a local factory, and he told me I was the perfect choice for an Electronic Assembler, and he could start me out at $12.00. When could I start?
Don't feel bad... I have less experience and 3 degrees than you and received offers to do tiling work. As in lay tiles in kitchens and bathrooms.

A lot of times, this is recruiters who are essentially kids shotgunning a contact list to see if they get hits to take home a salary.

I do agree that HR at times are incompetent in hiring for technical roles. I had an experience about 3 years ago where every recruiter under the sun was pitting me for a role in a company nearby and was turned down because I have little experience in Rockwell... never mind the 13 years dealing with Automated systems and Siemens in particular.

I'm now being headhunted for that same company since they didn't manage to fill the role and some colleagues of mine moved over there and highlighted that I was once available for them and instead was delivering value to another company down the road.
 
Its sad, some of these wages companies are offering are not adequate to live on. The desire for short term profits has really messed up the employment environment.
 
The desire for short term profits has really messed up the employment environment.

Whilst this is true, I think the problem is lack of visibility for the value of maintenance. You'd be surprised how many people think maintenance does nothing all day long and see it as a nice place to make a saving to boost figures.

And worst of all is that the figures will get a short term boost by reducing maintenance staff until their expertise starts being needed again... by which point the people that made the decision will look at the previous year and say it's not lack of staff because last year they had the same head count.

Another that happens all the time is the company paying for a specific training for the employee and then not raise the salary based on the knowledge or certification acquired...

I find that it's just best to move on...
 
Whilst this is true, I think the problem is lack of visibility for the value of maintenance. You'd be surprised how many people think maintenance does nothing all day long and see it as a nice place to make a saving to boost figures.

Agree, I talk to a plant manager a few years back and his thoughts were the maintenance department was a necessary evil and all his years he never saw them make one single product and did not contribute to production.
 
Agree, I talk to a plant manager a few years back and his thoughts were the maintenance department was a necessary evil and all his years he never saw them make one single product and did not contribute to production.

He's not completely wrong. Maintenance don't produce products. Their contribution is preventing losing money either by downtime or lack of quality and to carry out improvements (reliability or function), if given budget and time to do so.
It is nonetheless sad that a plant manager doesn't understand this.
 
He's not completely wrong. Maintenance don't produce products.

I was not arguing the fact and did not with him either, I just thought it was a ****ty attitude towards his back bone of production.... when I did a energy audit on the plant and saved him about 300k a year in gas and electric he did not say anything about it, but I did use the help from the maintenance department :eek:
 
He's not completely wrong. Maintenance don't produce products.

Back in the 90's I worked for a tier 1 stamping plant. The owner personally blamed the maintenance department for all downtime. She said if we did what we were supposed to do their wouldn't be any downtime. Also, maintenance could not work on any of the presses during working hours (20 hours per day, 7 days a week, scheduled at over 100% production rates for the machines) so things were bound to break.

Our fabricator was retiring and one of the production MIG welders applied for the position, but quickly backed out when he found it would be an $8.00 per hour pay cut to work in the maintenance dep't from what production workers were paid.

She also told me to call a heavily experienced technician with an electrical background and offer him $14.00 per hour - I had to call him and tell him the offer and as expected got hung up on.
 
Since thread has been resurrected possible by a bot I might as well add my comment.

Here's what I have never been able to understand. Why do customers put up with such crappy service from incompetent technicians and their companies?
I have seen way too often (that's an understatement) technicians sent by OEM or equipment distributor to tell the customer that there's nothing wrong with the machine and they were just imagining things or they were not using the machine correctly when it was clearly poorly designed mechanically or had poorly designed controls. And their attitudes and lack of interest in owning the problem and providing solutions is disgusting. Why, why do customers put up with that ****?
One possible answer I found is that most companies have exactly those kinds working for them and it is hard to find the few good ones among a sea of incompetence. And they keep buying the equipment and making the richer and more present in their market. Strange, strange phenomenon.
 
Back in the 90's I worked for a tier 1 stamping plant. The owner personally blamed the maintenance department for all downtime. She said if we did what we were supposed to do their wouldn't be any downtime. Also, maintenance could not work on any of the presses during working hours (20 hours per day, 7 days a week, scheduled at over 100% production rates for the machines) so things were bound to break.

Our fabricator was retiring and one of the production MIG welders applied for the position, but quickly backed out when he found it would be an $8.00 per hour pay cut to work in the maintenance dep't from what production workers were paid.

She also told me to call a heavily experienced technician with an electrical background and offer him $14.00 per hour - I had to call him and tell him the offer and as expected got hung up on.


You're signature ought to include "...running your machines or owning your plants." I get the recruiters always asking me for warehouse jobs, residential electrical (I have a Michigan Journeyman's license) or maintenance tech, 3rd shift, $21.00 p/hr. And, I won't do any contract work, only direct hire. I work for one of the Big 3 at an assembly plant, and it's OK, but I think I want to go back with an integrator.
 

Similar Topics

I have DI module ICPCon M7024UD connect to my pc using COM3 MODBUS RTU and also RHT sensors are using MODBUS TCPIP.. The problem is, it cannot...
Replies
9
Views
1,620
HMI (MT506TV) died on legacy machine in our plant. We have some SW back up and we have found another panel in spares, but i dont have software...
Replies
2
Views
1,629
Hey Guys and Gals Our paint shop has a 1784 plc 5/25, Last week we had a power outage, followed by several surges. Of course, we got the paint...
Replies
24
Views
4,819
Dears, Kindly I have a problem and need your urgent help, I am trying to upload/ read back the program of my Lauer PCS900 operating panel, through...
Replies
1
Views
1,825
Hi all, Its been a long time since the last time I visit this site. Actually I changed my career to something close to electronics but a little...
Replies
7
Views
2,442
Back
Top Bottom