Why veteran press brake operators are invaluable to a metal fab shop
Knowledgeable press brake operators are worth their weight in gold.
While manufacturing companies and job shops continue to be on the lookout for welders, they at least know that a local vocational training institution is turning out new job candidates. The same can’t be said for press brake operators.
That’s one of the reasons that the industry has seen so much of a move toward automated tool-changing devices and robotic press brake cells in recent years. While human press brake operators provide the flexibility that any automated equipment would be hard to match, those humans are frequently all too hard to find.
What about those press brake operators still at it? They’ve seen a lot. The older ones learned with the help of drafting paper, bending tables, and rulers. The not-as-old operators likely have a foot in that world and one in the world of computer controls and laser angle verification on the formed part. The newbies in front of the press brake likely know only what training is provided to them, either by an in-house mentor or maybe a technical representative from the brake’s manufacturer.
Author: Dan Davis
Source: The Fabricator
