Business
US manufacturing: What's it like to work in a factory?
- 19 June 2015
- Business
Over the past few weeks, the BBC has been reporting on the trends in US manufacturing - the challenges of the digital age, running factories in the city and why young start-up entrepreneurs are attracted to the industry.
But what's it like to actually work in manufacturing, making the goods we use on a daily basis? And how has it changed - from Henry Ford's assembly lines to today's cutting edge factory floor?
As of May 2015, there were over 12.3 million people - nearly 9% of the total US workforce - engaged in manufacturing everything from Ford Mustangs to Steinway pianos.
We hear from three workers who've been building the products that many Americans have used:
Darry Woodson has worked for the plane-maker Boeing for 26 years. He has been making wings for the 737 plane for nearly two decades.
"It's crazy busy but I love it. You come in at 3am and you go home 1.30-2 o'clock and it feels like just three hours. If I sat behind a desk all day I'd fall asleep.
Making the wings has changed considerably. They're getting easier to build and faster.
We do a lot more by machine than we used to. But we do a lot more of the same, repetitive motion which makes you good at [a particular task] but makes you worn out. We do a lot of job rotation and that keeps the [injuries] down.
At work, it's a pretty friendly atmosphere. But after work, there's a lot of people irritated with the way the last contract went. They [changed] our pension... we had a guaranteed pension plan. It's not right. We're the ones making the money for the company.
We've cut the size of the plant in half, eliminated half of our footprint but we're still pushing out more aircraft than has ever been made commercially - 42 planes a month [up from 14 planes a month] more than 2 a day. Every six hours you got to get to a new wing.
Aside from the contract issue, where we're just trying to keep what we had, it's been a very good company to work for. My wife and I have raised four beautiful girls from it. But I still want my pension."
Dana Sims has worked for the engine manufacturer Cummins in Columbus for 15 years.
"I started on the assembly line, where I worked for about four or five years. I've been in my current job [as a trainer] for three years. My 13 year-old daughter laughs at me for always pointing out Cummins engines but I'm proud of what I do.
My mum works here, my brother and a cousin. It's great - I get to see my mum every day, we try to have breakfast every morning. And I still hear about it if she catches me slacking off.
There's not a whole lot of women in leadership roles in my plant [but] there are plenty of women who could work circles around the others. There's a 50-year old woman here who would work a 50 - 75 hour week and never look tired. We would joke that she's a robot.
The amount you work can vary from 40 hours a week to 65 hours a week. I hate being forced to work overtime. I would rather volunteer so I can choose exactly how many hours I want to work. We went through a phase when we also had to work eight hours on Saturday [as well as the rest of the week]. I was lucky, my sister works in day-care so I always had someone who could look after my daughter.
The technological advances over the years just blow my mind. When we first started building a new engine model we had a part you had to kind of bear hug and use your knee and leg to flip it over to get it into the correct position. It wasn't heavy but extremely awkward. Now there is a manipulator that does all that for you so there are much less injuries from strain."
Sonny Workman has worked for the home appliances manufacturer Whirlpool in Ohio for 29 years. He is now a team leader at the company.
"The one thing that's changed in my time is the focus on safety. In the past it was numbers, numbers, numbers and now it's put safety first and the numbers will come. We want people to leave the plant as they came.
I was on the core team that helped develop a new line of washing machines. The engineers came up with the design and my team worked out how we are going to support the operation. We had to combine a lot of jobs but still give them [the workers] time to do the jobs and keep them safe. Some of the lines in the past kind of put the operators in unsafe positions.
I love my job but there have been difficult times. When I was just a regular assembler on the line - I felt like I was going nowhere. My life is better than just shooting the screws - or putting a panel together. But you gotta create your own momentum.
The style [of washing machine] today is different - they've gotten more efficient. And interestingly they've gotten bigger. Sometimes I wonder - where the heck do all these washers go? We make 20,000 a day - where do they all go?"
Interviews edited for clarity. Kim Gittleson contributed reporting.
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