Career Choice

My Career Choice

As a child I always dreamed about being able to have a career working with robots. Growing up during a period of very popular science fiction movies like "Star Wars" and a big developmental period for electronics and robotics, I have always looked for a field in which I could learn about robotic applications. Manufacturing, as I have learned throughout my time in the field, has provided me with such an opportunity. Although after being in manufacturing for fifteen years now, my obsession with robotics has expanded involvement with any improvements that can be made that increase productivity and improves techniques used in manufacturing. Because of this I have decided to strive towards the goal of entering into a management role in a mid-size manufacturing facility.

Entering into management in manufacturing can be achieved in a couple of different ways. Many manufacturing companies promote from within to fill some of the lower supervisory and management positions. These positions would require a high school diploma, or equivalent, with a minimum of about five years' experience in manufacturing. In order to advance into a management role a bachelor's degree in business would likely be needed, although experience in the field can substitute for some of the formal education.

In addition to the management roles that I would like to pursue there are many other opportunities available in manufacturing. These positions can range from entry level assemblers, to engineering and continuous improvement roles. Typically, as seen with the people I interviewed in my research, it is not unusual for employees to move frequently throughout a manufacturing company into new positions. Cross-training has become a large part of manufacturing and is not limited to the employees involved in production. Many managers throughout their career have been involved with a range of operations before finally settling into management positions.

The area of manufacturing that I have the most interest in is light duty power transmission systems, commonly referred to as gear motors. All revenue in these types of businesses is generated from product sales. Although in recent years there has been many incentive programs offered by federal and local government to encourage capital investment to be used to increase growth within manufacturing. This allows manufacturers to increase revenue by increasing their productivity by procuring new technologies with the help of government funding.

Light duty power transmissions are used in a variety of markets, ranging from food processing to medical equipment. One of the most common applications that the gear motors are used for are ice machines and ice dispensers. Any commercial equipment that requires parts to rotate will need some type of transmission to provide the drive for the device. On a daily basis people come in contact with gear motors many times each day. If you take note of any time you see or hear anything rotating in a machine it is likely that there is a gear motor running it. If you are dining in a restaurant the ice dispensers, ice cream mixers, and even the conveyors on self-dispensing soda machines are being run by gear motors. One of the newest applications that are becoming more common are the new DVD movie dispensing machines. In each of these there are gear motors being used in a similar manner as to the way a vending machine would dispense a bag of chips.

As with most manufacturing positions factory workers are compensated based on hourly wages and all office and supervisors are based on an annual salary. Management also typically has additional benefits such as health insurance, 401k, education re-imbursement, vacation, and annual stakeholder's payouts.