What is your name and trade?

JL Seventree; Millwright/Turbine Technician

Describe job requirements and tools you are required to have:

Install and repair gear trains, conveyors, pumps, blowers, compressors and various types of metal working and metal cleaning equipment. Install and repair fluid power systems and components. Install and repair various types of foundry furnaces. Install and repair robotic material handling equipment. Must have thorough knowledge of machine alignment through all phases from initial installation to final start-up. Have a good understanding of various bearing types and seals as well as their proper application and installation. Repair and maintenance of boilers, chillers and associated piping and pumps. Welding, fabrication and basic machining procedures.

What kind of experience do you have (training, on the job, military)? How much would recommend others have?

Grew up spending time in my dad’s farm shop, then learned about boilers and turbines while in the Navy. After discharge I served a four year millwright apprenticeship and began work as a journeyman millwright. Early in my career I worked for a company that specialized in installation of large stationary diesel engine powered pumpling stations and motor generator sets. We also did a lot of high-speed, high-pressure compressor installations and repair services. I went on to work for a company that built and installed sawmill equipment, worked for a few years in a crane shop working on large overhead cranes, worked on metal processing equipment. In 1984 I began working on steam and combustion turbines and in 1987 opened my own shop which I ran until early 2005. Circumstances forced me to sell the shop and I went to work for a specialty metals manufacturing company and have been there since. It isn’t possible to acquire too much education and/or experience. The learning curve never stops unless you allow it to.

What made you decide to enter your particular field of work?

My earliest memories are of me and my brother following my dad around as he worked in his blacksmith’s shop. I knew from the beginning that I wanted to work in the craft trades. I bought my first car when I was twelve and spent the summer tinkering with it when I wasn’t helping out in the shop. After graduating high school I joined the Navy, got a lot of good training and from there went on to work for a little while for a steel construction company until my ex-father-in-law was able to help me get an apprenticeship with the millwright’s union. From there the rest is all pleasant history.

What kind of education is required or would you suggest?

If your high-school offers any vocational training, take all the classes you can. Also take as many math classes as you can including shop math, geometry and algebra. A physics and chemistry class are good to. Some vocational high schools now offer pre-apprenticeships and if you can get into them it’s invaluable. After graduation find a shop or industrial facility willing to hire you as a helper of some sort and be patient. Make clear your wish to get into an apprenticeship and keep applying even if you don’t get one on the first try. Trust me, persistence pays!

How long did your trade education take to accomplish? Is continuing education required?

My basic education took about a year and then my apprenticeship ran four years. My trade education didn’t stop there. I took additional classes in fluid power technology at the local college and received factory training from General Electric, Parker-Hannifin, Vickers and Cincinnati Tool Co. Continuing education is an absolute must. The technical requirements of a millwright’s job change almost daily and to remain qualified and competent you really need to learn something new almost every day. I follow a simple learning formula: RSVP - Read, study, visualize and then perform.

Are there special skills one needs to enter your field of work?

I suppose the most obvious skill is having mechanical ability. I also think imagination is important. Every new technology began as an idea in someone’s imagination. Deductive reasoning, grasping mechanical theories and plenty of attention to detail are important to.

Do you remember your first day on the job? Describe it for us.

Sheesh! Do I ever! I applied for and was hired as a welder. I really wanted an apprenticeship, but I needed a job bad, so I decided to weld until I could get approved for an apprenticeship. I showed up for my first shift and the foreman layed out the work he wanted me to do. My welding skills were, to put it politely, way less than stellar and the welding I was asked to do included mostly out-of-position work. Half-way through the shift the foreman walked by and checked my work. I won’t quote his response, but suffice it to say his description of my work had a lot to do with what a bird’s bowel movement looks like on a piece of metal. I was sure my job was finished, but instead he put me with another guy who was not only an excellent welder, but a guy who was real good at explaining how welding should be done. We worked it out so I could do most of the flat runs and then give some vertical welding a try. By the end of the week my welding was getting pretty decent on the flat runs and his cover passes dressed up my vertical welds.

Briefly describe your typical day on the job – hours worked, challenges, etc.

I don’t think there are any “typical” days on my job. Every day is different. I’ve always been more comfortable working nights, I’m not much good doing anything before mid-morning at the earliest, but I don’t mind working from mid-day until midnight. Fortunately for me my work hours start in the middle of the afternoon and most nights I finish up before midnight. I always show up for work at least a half-hour early. That gives me a chance to get into my overalls, check in with dayshift and find out what job turn-overs might be coming my way and slide into the smoke shack for a quick cigarette before my shift starts. Once on shift it’s impossible to know what I’ll be working on. It might be a vacuum furnace repair, a comressor, pump or boiler that’s down, or a cranky wax moulding machine that needs some tender, loving attention. I think there’s two major challenges on my job. We manufacture a lot of parts on an extremely time-critical schedule and downtime isn’t a good thing. Learning to get the job done as quickly as possible and do it right is a constant conflict. I can do a job quick or I can do it real good, but trying to do both at the same time is a tough request.

What was the best advice you received about your job and trade?

One millwright I apprenticed with said there’s three things I should always do on the job: Think, think and think! Other than that, patience, curiousity, some imagination (if you can visualize it you can build it) and to NEVER stop learning was the best advice I got.

What advice would you give to someone interested in entering your trade?

Learn all you can about the trade. Understand what’s required of you and do all you can to sharpen your skills. Don’t try to learn everything all at once. Try to learn one skill at a time as much as you can. Apprenticeships vary. Some programs give you exposure to a lot of different job functions, others allow you to concentrate on a specific area like machine intallation and alignment or drive train installations and repairs. As you get closer to finishing your apprenticeship give some thought to an area you’d like to specialize in. Maybe it’ll be fluid power systems, machine installation and alignment or working on rotating equipment. Also remember that whatever you choose to specialize in, whatever type of work you do for a few years, chances are you’ll end up doing jobs you never thought you would. Stay flexible. Try different things. And never, ever stop learning!

What is the best thing about your job or what do you like the most?

I think the sense of accomplishment that comes with every successful repair is probably the best thing. That and knowing I’m contributing to a process that results in something tangible at it’s conclusion. I also think a big part of my trade is the friendships I’ve developed with my working brothers and sisters. When you work long nights together, eat meals together, travel together and party together you get to be like extended family.