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Advice for Interview and Entry into Sheetmetal Shop

96Mustang460cid

Aluminum
Joined
Jun 16, 2008
Location
Duke, OK, United States of America
Next week, I'm interviewing for a production and scheduling manager role at a local sheet metal shop. The owner is interested in introducing more accountability and efficiency into the shop. The owner acknowledges he's done a poor job of fulfilling the production manager role when it vacated a couple years ago. While I openly admit my lack of sheet metal fab and machine shop working knowledge, I am decent at providing resources to the team so they can meet and exceed the expectations and finding efficiencies. I also have a strong business background, which the owner desires to utilize in the future.

By degree, I'm a mechanical engineer. By professional experience, I am project management. By spare time, I'm a very strong DIY level fabricator, but am certainly not a machinist and could only build very simple items with loose specs. I strive to be more of a jack-of-all-trades, hands-on, and sensical type of engineer.

The thought of working in and learning more about this industry is incredibly exciting for me because it aligns so well with my personal interest and hobbies and I thoroughly enjoy the 'business' -- leading, growing, and helping others.

What advice or pitfalls might the collective knowledge of this group offer in this scenario? This shop has been open for 30 years. The three most used pieces of equipment in the shop are the press brake, CNC plasma, and mechanical sheer.

Thanks and have a great day!
Michael
 
First, don't piss people off by changing everything all at once. I joke, but not really. Explain to the boss that you need some time just to observe, see what are obvious bottlenecks, and understand the current workflow (good and bad) through the place. That includes what the owner is doing, make sure he understands that without him feeling threatened.

If you've done significant management work, you'll understand a lot of it is relational, and you'll want to extend that to outside contractors and vendors. Does the company get in materials in an orderly fashion? Are there proper storage methods, or does stock get damaged, scratched, etc. while waiting to be worked on?

Safety is big too, sheetmetal work can lead to lots of cuts, burns, etc. Are the working areas properly laid out so people don't trip over each other or WIP? Are handling methods safe, or is there downtime due to accidents?

How is quality and customer satisfaction analyzed? Any lost work due to delays or poor quality? Do you have coating issues, need to find new platers, powder coaters, etc.?

Has the owner clearly stated what he wants from you? Maybe that's the number one question...
 
First, don't piss people off by changing everything all at once. I joke, but not really. Explain to the boss that you need some time just to observe, see what are obvious bottlenecks, and understand the current workflow (good and bad) through the place. That includes what the owner is doing, make sure he understands that without him feeling threatened.

If you've done significant management work, you'll understand a lot of it is relational, and you'll want to extend that to outside contractors and vendors. Does the company get in materials in an orderly fashion? Are there proper storage methods, or does stock get damaged, scratched, etc. while waiting to be worked on?

Safety is big too, sheetmetal work can lead to lots of cuts, burns, etc. Are the working areas properly laid out so people don't trip over each other or WIP? Are handling methods safe, or is there downtime due to accidents?

How is quality and customer satisfaction analyzed? Any lost work due to delays or poor quality? Do you have coating issues, need to find new platers, powder coaters, etc.?

Has the owner clearly stated what he wants from you? Maybe that's the number one question...

Thanks for the tips and advice, Milland. From the preliminary phone interview, quality is not a problem. The owner wishes to document processes, increase throughput of the shop, and delegate responsibilities so he can focus on other portions of the business. The mid-term goal is to increase sales, which are currently limited by shop throughput.

Have a great day!
Michael
 








 
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