how many welders

[bigassedredjeep]

I can't speak for your situation at your current job but at my plant the maintenance manager makes over 150k a year. He spends most his time coordinating with our engineer and contractors on projects. He does roll his sleeves up and help the maint. supervisor and techs when they are down a man or overloaded but he doesn't have the experience with our equipment to do much other than help turn wrenches. I say go for it and worst case use it to pad your resume and take another maintenance manager position that pays well and better suits your desires.

I'll also ad that I was worried about politics as well before taking a management roll at work. I soon found out that I was worried about nothing. I speak my mind, I only filter my language not my message. Often times my opinion is well received because the plant manager knows that I know what I'm talking about and I don't sugar coat it.

I'm more worried about the politics. I would answer to the plant manager and production manager only. The rest might as well be considered "customers". The current manager has considerable electrical back ground. I know enough to do basic trouble shooting and when to call for help. The other side is the current leadership is all about change and making steps. Good, bad, or indifferent the wheels keep shifting. This has created an atmosphere of instability, maintenance last, and mostly pressure from poorly orchestrated "improvements". The bottom line is I've never been a "yes man" and don't filter much doubt or realistic points of view. It doesn't fit the narrative when the plow is set to full depth and they want to shift gears.

The only positive so far is the ability to head off the unknown in another candidate. Our equipment is all in house custom. The process is similar in many respects in similar industry. However the plc code, mechanical, and process are very much custom. Enough that another very seasoned highly qualified tech has to remind himself daily on some of the "quirks".

Another +1 on the "go for it" group. You said it yourself, all of your equipment is in-house custom. Any outside candidate is going to be lost for atleast the first 6-12 months, probably a young know-it-all punk, only to realize they are in over their head, and will cut and run. Leaving you and the other mechanics to take up the slack anyways without the justified pay. You also brought up a good point about the "Maintenance last" topic. We have all seen it, 'run to failure" is the mindset of so many people in business today, because Maintenance gets shrugged off, and then when the failures occur, bosses want to know why hasn't anything been done before now... Well if the right person was in a leadership position with a backbone, saying that the equipment needs this or that, the failures would be less.

You seem like an up-front kinda guy, who is willing to go to bat for the Maintenance program because you know what is needed. Who do you think you/the mechanics would rather work for, someone like yourself, or some half-wit with no experience (atleast not with your equipment)? I say go for it, mold the Maintenance program into what you know it should be, with the right people in the right places. Push for that extra budget $$ to rebuild/replace equipment. Don't sell yourself short, like Yota said, "I speak my mind, I only filter my language not my message."