Class A, B, C machinist?

[TimH]

What is the difference?

[Greg White]

Pay scale,i think.
Never seen nor heard this in Detroit,but have heard folks talk aboot it.
GW

[HuFlungDung]

About 20 paces between each room in the hallway

[SND]

I've heard it before when it came to welders. From what I understood, first year apprentice was C, 2nd was B, and journeyman was A. Then I heard it again, but said backward...

As far as I know its all obsolete, except for title seekers maybe.

[TimH]

I took a job at a local manufacturer. I have quite a bit of machine shop experience. Right now I'm just a grunt doing back breaking work. I would like to upgrade to machinist. I looked over the job listings and found these "classes". So I'm curious what would be expected of each class.

[SND]

Maybe they still go by apprentice years at that place, or some other internal thing.

If it goes by apprentice years then you would need to join that program, do the tests, practical work, etc.

[toolmaker68]

Unlike in the EU (as well as some other countries), here in the US classification of machinist skills is equal to an old proverbial saying "to each his own", thus the rating of A,B,C, is more likely to apply to some 'internal' company's guidelines than anything else, such as one recognized nationwide.

How good or bad is this for people working in the metal cutting industry? It depends on what level of skills one possesses. Since most people learn their skills through on-the-job training over years rather than going through a formal apprenticeship program (as is the case in Europe), individuals are left to fight for recognition of their acquired skills throughout most of their careers. Most of them would be considered as an operator rather than a journey level machinist, which generally means a lower pay scale and a constant battle to seek better paying positions among the companies that are seeking higher skilled employees. Who benefits from such a loosely defined system of skill recognition? Nobody really! And, the biggest loser seems to be the companies who are in need of highly skilled personnel that are forced to go through tremendous cost recruiting and training those few highly skilled individuals still available in the market.

What's the remedy for all concerned? It seems that unless we come up with some national certification program that would be recognized for operator skills through journey level skills, this confusing question as to what A, B, C, etc. really means is going to linger for many years to come.

Of course, mentioning anything about 'national certification' to most folks around here is interpreted as government involvement, and as such is considered "un-American" to say the least. So, what does (at the present) "Class A, B, C machinist" mean? Your guess is as good as mine!

Just a thought . . .

[TimH]

So I guess there is no difinitive answer. I guess I wil have to talk to HR people. Thanks

[Madlab]

Well here is the good ole U.S.of A all machinists are class less err....... I mean ... well..... ...ummm .....Yup .......class less.
However, in the olden days some unions did classify machinists A,B, and other rankings. but I do not think it was a universal designation system. -matt

[toadjammer]

In my trade "patternmaking" the employees have the designations classes A B C Apprentice and helper. There are a couple of reasons for this mostly involving union contracts and negotiations. Class A earns Rate or 100%, B is 80%, C is 70% Apprentices I believe start at 40% and helpers are about 50%. Now where this becomes bearing is in the contract language where it limits lower level Class B C app. and helpers in relationship to class A this is to make sure the employers maintain and adequate wage scale and skill levels in the shops and promote workers in the future that show they should be promoted.
Toad

[JR Walcott]

Take a look here: http://www.nims-skills.org/downloads/downloads.htm

[huntinguy]

From what I have seen, and that is not as much as most here.

A: Point them at the job and machine. They also train, troubleshot setups and processes.
(nc world, they push all the buttons)

B: Point them at the machine. Bring them a job. They do good work and stay out of trouble.
(nc world, push most of the buttons)

C: walk them to the machine. A man comes by a few times a night to make sure they, the parts and the machine are all still Okay.
(nc world, push green button, red button and BIG RED MUSHROOM)

Pay is also part of it. I have, however, seen some Bs make more than some A's.

As for training. I have seen good apprentice graduates that could be A's, I have seen some that could barely be C's. I have seen guys that have just bounced around and were better than many graduate apprentices.

I think the best education you can get is to move shop to shop every few years.

[Sidney]

I work as a machinist in a union shop and these classifications still apply. I dont have my contract book here, but it is mostly what you would expect the As get more money because they have more skills ect. Where I work it also has to do with the amount/type of your own personel tools. In our contract book in order to progress up in the ranks you not only need to gain skills but also all the tools.

[bluerider]

Ive only worked at one shop that had these classifications. It was N L Acme Tool back in the late 70s early 80s. Basically class C was a trainee, class B was anyone who could meet performance quotas and quality requirements on any given job and class A was anyone who could exceed quota by 20 % or more. Im shop mgr of a shop with over 30 people and i wouldnt call anyone here class A. Attitudes and pride have gone to hell these days. I cant even get most of my hands to even show up on time.These times they are a changing.

[dwf289]

My first boss said the only difference between a class A machinist and a class B machinist was a class A could fix his mistakes

[Texas Tim]

I've worked in two union shops in my life, they both used these classifications, and they were the only 2 shops I worked in that did. I was hired in at class A both places, and I honestly never read into my contract enough to learn what the requirements were for the lower classes. But being able to setup and program everything they had, and also knowing all the manual equipment got me class A. So I'd agree it seems to be a union thing.

[bluerider]

I have never worked in a union shop in 33 years of working in machine shops{mainly oilfield related ] and have never placed too much emphasis on titles because ive had them all from worm to mgr and they dont mean anything.Ive run a lot of shops and worked a lot of crews and my most qualified man is not always my best hand. Ive always felt that a good hand is 50% ability and 50 % attitude. Unfortunately today it is getting harder to find an employee with either. From 18 to 55 it doesnt seem to matter. There doesnt seem to be any pride in a job well done anymore. Sorry , just had to get that off my chest . Be safe everyone.

[vettepicking]

well if you work in a shop for 30 years and have all your fingers then i ll call you a "A".
if you need a ez-read tape measure and carry a broom then your a weak "C". i have a hard time finding people that can show up on time.

[Greg White]

iffin you men want good people maybe,just maybe you should stop callin the temp. service..
Gw

[bluerider]

have never used a temp service and never will.