Bad luck hiring experienced employees

[john.k]

I find all the climate stuff is having the effect on young people that whatever they do ,time spent learning is wasted...whatever they do thats not green will disappear...there s no careers in the mechanical trades...........And IMHO,they are probably correct.

 

[AJ H]

I don't think I have walked into a business in most of 2 years that didn't have a help wanted sign in the window and in the last 6 months there are TV commercials that are help wanted ads. I think it is becoming the job of the gray hairs to fill in for the many, many who no longer wish to disrupt their social activities with something so trivial as a job, let alone a career.

Just turned 31 and a buzz cut no longer returns my hair to it's natural color, so I guess I'm in the club.

 

[AJ H]

I'm one of those 50 somethings with 30+ years experience. NC horizontal, CNC Vertical, and manual versions of both types of milling. Some lathe and surface grinding experience. My dad taught me how to operate, set up and program the NC. That translated to the vertical when we got our first CNC. We weren't high dollar and didn't always have the correct tooling...but the job got done. I was responsible for any job that was handed to me from start to finish. When we closed, I thought I had a job lined up. The guy didn't like that I was programming using the machine language (Anilam and ShopMill on Siemens)and not G code. He offered me $17.50 an hour. That struck a nerve. 1)Am I good enough to go somewhere else and do this and 2)Do I want to go anywhere else and do this?

I've seen people struggle to get away from conversational programming so I can understand his skepticism, but we have guys that can't program on anything making $20+.

G-code isn't hard basically you need to memorize some gibberish, you've been at this long enough you already know what you want the machine to do you just need to remember which code tells it to do that. There's plenty of good books and videos out there it might be worth while for you to take a look and be able to tell an employer "I haven't used G code but I've been working on getting a grasp of it".

The realization that most shops probably aren't looking for an Anilam programmer and showing a conscious effort to move forward with something more popular would impress me as an interviewer.

 

[CITIZEN F16]

What I would be curious to know is if the slow set-up guys at least make a set-up that runs well after it is put in production? The last job working for the man we had a guy who smoked everyone else's set-up time. His set-ups barely passed first article and probably wouldn't last an hour before needing attention. I would rather see someone who took a couple more hours make a set-up that would run trouble free for a good amount of time.

 

[CITIZEN F16]

We see the same thing. In fact, so much of it that we have given up on finding experienced employees that work out. The ex-Boeing guys are the worst. They talk big, but mostly do not know shit. Or they will want to reinvent the wheel on repeat jobs that run great the way we are currently doing it. The road from total inexperience to knowledgeable, competent employee is a long one, but it can pay off.

Boeing is union, that is all you need to know.

 

[DDoug]

Just turned 31 and a buzz cut no longer returns my hair to it's natural color, so I guess I'm in the club.

Fret no more....:
Good Looking Hair

 

[DDoug]

Boeing is union, that is all you need to know.

Many of the engineers are too....

 

[Milland]

Many of the engineers are too....

And the management is really castoffs from Wall St. and McDonnell-Douglas.

And that's the rest of the story...


[Actually, it's pretty much the story itself - a good company crashed by people more concerned about making themselves lots of money, not safe airplanes.]

 

[AJ H]

Fret no more....:
Good Looking Hair

It's all still there

 

[Milland]

It's all still there

[We know it's a toupee...]

 

[Mark P.]

I've seen people struggle to get away from conversational programming so I can understand his skepticism, but we have guys that can't program on anything making $20+.

G-code isn't hard basically you need to memorize some gibberish, you've been at this long enough you already know what you want the machine to do you just need to remember which code tells it to do that. There's plenty of good books and videos out there it might be worth while for you to take a look and be able to tell an employer "I haven't used G code but I've been working on getting a grasp of it".

The realization that most shops probably aren't looking for an Anilam programmer and showing a conscious effort to move forward with something more popular would impress me as an interviewer.

NC programming was only about G codes and M codes. I did that the first 10 years. I jumped from G codes to the Anilam which wasn't always a piece of cake. The Shopmill on the Siemens control was a lot friendlier than the Anilam. You are also inputing some programs line by line (basic programming). I told the guy 1)Why wouldn't you want to utilize the language the machine is offering and just limit it to G codes (see what it has to offer). 2)I received teaching to learn the how to program those systems.

 

[Ox]

NC programming was only about G codes and M codes. I did that the first 10 years. I jumped from G codes to the Anilam which wasn't always a piece of cake. The Shopmill on the Siemens control was a lot friendlier than the Anilam. You are also inputing some programs line by line (basic programming). I told the guy 1)Why wouldn't you want to utilize the language the machine is offering and just limit it to G codes (see what it has to offer). 2)I received teaching to learn the how to program those systems.

Well, since you are new here, maybe I have some hope of gitt'n my ShopMill questions answered in the future - should I have some?

One that I couldn't even get an answer to from Siemens themselves, was how to program a rough/semi/finish opp in thread milling?
The blocks are all there, but I could never git it to doo what I expected, and they covered the whole opp in the book in one short paragraph with no examples as I remember.

So I called Siemens and the voice there told me that likely nobody there remembers how to program a 12 yr old control.
What?

I have asked Siemens 2wice over the years for clarification on programming, and neither time were they interested in helping me.
I Shirley don't foresee me ever buying a new Siemens control.

So I ended up just calling the opp 3 times and editing the D each time. It works fine, but likely cost me a smidge in cycle time, but it's not on high volume parts, so ....

And we're not even running those here anymore, so - not an issue right now anyway, but I would be very interested if you have been able to figger it out?


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Think Snow Eh!
Ox

 

[Mark P.]

Well, since you are new here, maybe I have some hope of gitt'n my ShopMill questions answered in the future - should I have some?

One that I couldn't even get an answer to from Siemens themselves, was how to program a rough/semi/finish opp in thread milling?
The blocks are all there, but I could never git it to doo what I expected, and they covered the whole opp in the book in one short paragraph with no examples as I remember.

So I called Siemens and the voice there told me that likely nobody there remembers how to program a 12 yr old control.
What?

I have asked Siemens 2wice over the years for clarification on programming, and neither time were they interested in helping me.
I Shirley don't foresee me ever buying a new Siemens control.

So I ended up just calling the opp 3 times and editing the D each time. It works fine, but likely cost me a smidge in cycle time, but it's not on high volume parts, so ....

And we're not even running those here anymore, so - not an issue right now anyway, but I would be very interested if you have been able to figger it out?


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Think Snow Eh!
Ox

Our Fryer had the Siemens 2100 I believe. Sounds like the same time frame. When we first got it, I would talk to a guy named Ben. He helped we with programming and software issues. I don't know how many times I'd turn the machine on and it reverted back to German on the control. Ben eventually left and I think was working for the military. He was good.

As far as thread milling, I can't help you. We had a part that would turn up once or twice a year that needed thread milled but I was always so swamped I couldn't fit it in.

 

[Ox]

LOL!

The 2100 is a Cinci control.


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Think Snow Eh!
Ox

 

[AJ H]

Back when I ran Siemens 840D controls someone (Kennametal?) had a free software download that spit out pretty good thread milling cycles.

 

[Mark P.]

LOL!

The 2100 is a Cinci control.


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Think Snow Eh!
Ox

Nope...Siemens Touch 2100 control. I think they switched to Anilam controls shortly after if I am correct

 

[Ox]

How old are you?


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Think Snow Eh!
Ox

 

[Milland]

Nope...Siemens Touch 2100 control. I think they switched to Anilam controls shortly after if I am correct

Interesting, never heard of it before.

Touch 2100 CNC - Conversational Programming Video - YouTube

 

[john.k]

Anyhoo,If you want bad luck hiring employees ,the guy owns the Macas and Service station next to me had $7M stolen by a new hire.....Office manager ,mortgaged all the freehold properties,blew the lot gambling.........Didja know money put through casinos and online sites isnt recoverable ? Special law exempts them from liability.

 

[Ox]

Is that a Roman numeral M, or is that for Million?

I have one customer that likes to use it for Roman, which is decisively different in value.


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Think Snow Eh!
Ox