Helped Melody with invoicing, it’s time to pay the bills at Mertek.
Racking my brain of ideas of labs to create, find and modify (the best way I like to do things)….I feel like Winnie the Pooh, think, think, think…
I have an idea of making an interactive web tour of Mertek solutions. Ran the idea past the boss man and he loves it, so does everyone else! Now just have to get to NCCAT and make sure I’m on the right track and haven’t derailed to my own special place. Plus have to learn or find people who know all the software and technology it will take to make my vision come alive. I sound like an engineer here at Mertek-designing a machine, draw it up, get everyone on the same page and execute…then revise and execute again.
I met with Tom and chase today for a minute or two, just observed them on band saw and wet grinder. I met with Craig, an electrical designer/electrician who has been with Mr. Jerry for over 20 years! He works with Cody and Blair pretty closely. He completed the dye and tool program from CCCC, like many others here at Mertek. He uses the Autocad software for his electrical designs that then go into a folder on their network that the engineer, project manager, or anyone else can pull up to see the progress and specs of each job. This job he showed me today was more customer input than most. Usually Mertek builds the machine, however this job was a panel build of just electrical. They use red ink to make changes on the paper schematics, which is called Redlines. Craig said most stuff is not memorized but he uses the skill of looking things up and using all of his resources constantly. He does have to know the NEC (National Electrical Code) and use it accurately. Work smarter not harder, Craig updates old jobs if possible which increases his effectiveness in getting finished and helped the guys in the back get started as soon as possible. His holy grail is the quote, he reads and read through it and makes his list of IOs (inputs and outputs). There is a pretty good checks and balances program set in place here and the guys don’t worry about correcting each other, they kind of enjoy doing it. Travis double checks most of Craig’s work. Plus they have several internal meeting with the mechanical engineers, such as Tommy. Once the machine or panel returns to the customer after lots of hours of testing, Mertek signs off on a contract releasing them of any ligation. I asked about busy times of year versus down time, he said they used to be real busy during the weeks of Christmas and Independence Day due to plants shutting down. They could do preventative maintenance on the machines and install when no one was working in the plant. Random fact: 95% of the switches he uses are 24V DC and each panel has an E stop (emergency). A customer drove from Lumberton to bring Mertek some parts for a build they are doing, so I tagged a long on his tour of the place.