I began working for Empire Brushes in 1993.
I was hired about a week before I was finished with my education at Pitt Community College. I started as a production
mechanic in the Automatics department. That department consisted of various high speed brush-making machines.
Most of them were European. I worked with Boucherie, Borghi, Osmas, Schlesinger, and Carlson equipment. I have
been through just about every section on the Boucherie machines. I could perform any setups, repairs, or troubleshooting
needed on most of the machinery in that department. I was a production mechanic with an electrical upgrade until 1997.
I then took a position as a facilities electrician.
That position basically covered the electrical maintenance of the facility, machinery, and the monitoring of security/alarm
systems and compressors. Most of the electrical work mainly came from the injection molding department. I worked
on the night shift and was technical lead for that area. After working as an electrician, for 2 years, the position
was changed to include mechanical repairs.
In 1999, my position was upgraded to an electromechanical
technician covering the Injection Molding department. The process technicians were formerly the mechanics
for that area. The electromechanical technicians were responsible for all mechanical and electrical repairs and troubleshooting.
The machinery ranged from 125 to 700 ton presses. We had about 20 ram and toggle type presses and 4 foam multistation
machines. The brands were Van Dorn, Cincinatti Milacron, HPM, Kawaguchi, Engel, and Presma. We had 3 Premier
resin handling systems. I've done many types of mechanical and electrical repairs on all of the injection machines and
been through complete rebuilds of the foam machinery. When Rubbermaid closed and moved part of the machinery to international
locations, I travelled to the sites to help set up, train, and troubleshoot problems. I worked in Mexico for a few months
and a little while in China. I worked on the mechanics and electrical systems during the transition.
I afterwards took a job as a Pharmaceutical Technician
for DSM Pharmaceuticals. The main thing I liked about the position was doing product changeovers. Setting
up the lines to run different products was the only thing I enjoyed about the position. The other time was
spent running the lines and was definetely not my type of work. Any true maintenance technician would not like
this position. No challenge.
I transferred to DSM DYNEEMA as an E/I
MECHANIC. The instrumentation and electrical work has been much better and much more of a challenge. Much
of the technology has been new to me, so I have had much learning since I started. I work with a variety of instruments
and devices. I recently went to a Vector Drive training class from Siemens. That was a very good class. They
are pretty cool. The "Links" page gives more of an idea of what types of devices that I use. I am
not able to tell specifically about the processes, being that our security and quality must remain at the highest
levels. So far I have very much enjoyed DYNEEMA and will give them 110% always, just as I did for
Rubbermaid. I travelled to the other side of the world for Rubbermaid, and if I'm lucky I might get to
see where DYNEEMA originated. I make it a goal to provide quality work for any company and I do not mind going extra
miles to obtain the goals of a company.
I started working for Dyneema
in the Fiber Processing section. I now work in the Life Protection areas.
