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Manufacturing Day, and the joy of making things

“When our manufacturing base is strong, our entire economy is strong. Today, we continue our work to bolster the industry at the heart of our Nation. With grit and resolve, we can create new jobs and widen the circle of opportunity for more Americans.”

So proclaimed President Obama who on this Manufacturing Day is speaking at Millennium Steel Service in Princeton, Ind., to take part in one of more than 1,600 events being held today in North America. Manufacturers have a good story—about technology, innovation, jobs—and today they’re standing up to tell it.

This Manufacturing Day, I’m thinking about all the small shops that employ most of those in the North American manufacturing workforce. I’m thinking about kaizen events, about new ideas, about striving to make things better.

But I’m also thinking about people like Scott Malkasian. The owner of Worcester, Mass.-based Miro Arc Welding, Malkasian has perfected his craft for more than 30 years—and boy, does he have a story to tell.

Micro Arc tackles workpieces with dimensional tolerances measured in microns, and yet the process remains manual. It uses either gas tungsten arc welding or a laser, and for each the micro-welder manually manipulates a welding wire as thin as human hair. One wrong move, a few thousandths in any direction, can ruin the part.

Recently Malkasian began sitting down with his nephew to show him the basics of both micro-GTAW and the laser process: the steady hand, the manipulation of wire, the quiet concentration. His nephew is learning the feel of it, and Malkasian hopes he and others will be there to carry on the torch.

When a micro-welder is working, worldly distractions melt away, leaving nothing except the workpiece and the weld at hand. I’m sure other craftspeople in fabrication, as well as in various other manufacturing sectors, experience something similar.

This experience—the joy of making something, with nothing between you and the workpiece—really shows the best manufacturing has to offer, and during this Manufacturing Day, I’m not taking it for granted.

About the Author
The Fabricator

Tim Heston

Senior Editor

2135 Point Blvd

Elgin, IL 60123

815-381-1314

Tim Heston, The Fabricator's senior editor, has covered the metal fabrication industry since 1998, starting his career at the American Welding Society's Welding Journal. Since then he has covered the full range of metal fabrication processes, from stamping, bending, and cutting to grinding and polishing. He joined The Fabricator's staff in October 2007.