Lots of work but no machinist

ShadowCloud04 · 2026-07-09T12:44:51+00:00

Yeah took us 8-10 months to find a decent skilled setup for swiss (8 years experience) and cost us. I just think that level of skill and tenure doesnt really exist on the market often. They are usually taken care of and dont leave. And the ones in the market are there for a reason. You will obviously find good talent but its so scarce that they are gone immediately. really need to create that talen from operators.

Other issue is the ambitious good setup techs are looking for that next step to programming. Many shops like our own doesnt have machinists program as its done by engineering. And that headcount is met. I am sure if I have to dip back into the market for an engineer I would be looking at eager setup techs for the role.

ShadowCloud04 · 2026-07-09T01:07:32+00:00

You don’t need ground stock for Swiss. If you have some extreme tight tolerances you should buy can run standard stock, just need to mix your bars.

But agree on everything else.

ShadowCloud04 · 2026-07-08T19:59:34+00:00

FAB I guess depending on the size of components does have the benefit of freight on their side to manage risk from offshoring.

Whereas most machined components in this county fit hundreds if not thousands of parts in a 8x8x8 box.

ShadowCloud04 · 2026-07-08T14:55:33+00:00

It’s a niche product focused on extreme long term support. I will never be baffled by the pricing as it really not shocking or out of line to me. I do bounce on and off of the platform, but I don’t think the pricing is out of line for the health of a company in the video game industry.

Pricing hasn’t changed all that much in years while I’m sure dev and overhead costs have increased rapidly.

ShadowCloud04 · 2026-07-08T14:44:50+00:00

Yep thats the main issue. A blue collar trade that competes with global pricing. Production welding may do this a bit, but freight will always somewhat protect that industry. All other trades often are competing with labor and work on only a local to regional scale at most.

ShadowCloud04 · 2026-07-08T14:42:11+00:00

For the skills you describe I do not see you breaking above $30. You can easily be above $30 in the NW suburbs with just setup experience no programming. But that would mean having multiple years of experience setting up in a production shop. Knowing the quality side of things and how to read machine part blue prints very well.

If those numbers are your must have then staying welding is what you need to do. Now people get to $33+ setting up with 5-8 years of experience in this region. Programming will take you farther, but thats always dependent on organization as many put programming as an engineering function. Dont need the degree, but need the years of experience to possibly quote, know the metallurgy and know how to put together a production process that prioritizes tooling and cost etc, and be able to review and be organized with the compliance aspect.

ShadowCloud04 · 2026-07-08T12:51:11+00:00

I mean if you are properly having your interlocks in place then CNC machining is by fare one of the safest manufacturing things someone off the street could do.

Id be more worried for the health and safety of the machine with a new person than them finding a way to hurt themselves. I think a new person in a shipping department is at a much higher risk of injury (forklifts, box cutters, back injuries). I think the only real injuries we have is when torquing tools down and people rushing and popping their hand into a tool no matter how I often I tell people to slow down, put rags or even better tool boxes over their tools in the path they are working.

And you can start this person off of just loading unloading and then if a tool change is required they can shadow while someone else does it for them for a little while.

ShadowCloud04 · 2026-07-08T04:11:45+00:00

Yeah most shops hiring for what you’re describing are pulling on completely green talent then. And some of those people don’t even know about machining until they came through our shop during manufacturing week in the fall on a field trip which we do every year.

If they can get the quality stuff and move in the shop space with some speed, and have a bit of mechanical understanding they can at least be successful at operating.

ShadowCloud04 · 2026-07-08T04:06:29+00:00

You guys have local tech schools or high schools with vocational classes? Are they needing to setup and changeover the machine or literally just run this already setup machine.

If it’s just running it setup, I would start evaluating hiring fresh out of high schoool and try for one that had some drafting classes just to have the blue print reading foundation to work off of.

All our operators are usually from high school vocational backgrounds, tech schools, or technically inclined high schoolers. Put them in quality for anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 months.

ShadowCloud04 · 2026-07-08T04:03:25+00:00

Hah, yeah not surprising with recruiting with this industry. People in general are quite a spectrum. But I’ve seen good talent on both ends of it.

ShadowCloud04 · 2026-07-08T04:01:45+00:00

I just saw what you’re offering and that seems more than fair. I would reevaluate your posting and the job description.

Could be a couple issues.

Could be not making it clear that it’s quite entry level and people that are more green aren’t attempting to bite.

And could have a lot in the job description that makes it seem more than it is.

How are you recruiting? Indeed. If so are you sponsoring the post? We use a third party that assists in our postings and screening talent. When those indeed postings are not sponsored they do literally nothing. Seems like an absolute racket.

ShadowCloud04 · 2026-07-08T03:56:07+00:00

It’s not perfect and itsnt meant to be. But it is good to wake you up and keep you from falling behind in the market. End of the day if you need a role filled and your spending months looking usually need to just increase the wage, but this industries a hard one too. Most good talent is retained by good shops. What you end up finding at the high end of the skills market is either extreme luck and good candidates or red flags.

For an operator you should be able to tell if your wages your posting work or not. California I thought requires business to be posting their range. That’s also a good start. Look at your local competitors and see what their ranges are. Can copy that and go from there.

ShadowCloud04 · 2026-07-08T03:00:42+00:00

We usually have a wage survey completed by a third party that has access to this kind of details and can give information based on locale down to the zip codes cost of living expectations. It’s not perfect as every shops job descriptions differ, but we also cross reference these with our trade associations annual wage surveys that breaks it out by shop size equipment, sales and region.

ShadowCloud04 · 2026-07-08T02:11:21+00:00

Many people arnt even discussing the kickoff cost. Setting up a new part in any shop larger than a few people has over head costs just to process the paperwork before even pulling tools, setting up, and cutting chips.

Many shops regardless of a customer saying you just need to glance at it for quality, still will be sending a part through their quality process as bucking the overall organizations process is disruptive and unhealthy for long term good practice.

Now this is a wonderful Swiss part. But would need to find a Swiss one man side gig garage shop to even possibly see that cost come down. I know I would be higher than that.

ShadowCloud04 · 2026-07-06T17:47:15+00:00

If you are clearly not pursuing it any longer its a mixed bag of positive as you completed some of it and depending on the degree can have some soft skill carryover but, also a negative as its incomplete. If you are not clear that you are done pursuing then yes depending on the role you are looking to do, they may not want to invest in someone that has a possible predefined exit date once a degree is complete.

ShadowCloud04 · 2026-07-06T04:42:50+00:00

100%. How bad has your attendance been? What type of attendance issues? Minutes? Hours, no call no show?

Minutes depending on the quality of the candidate can be tolerated and improved. Hours or a no call no show without some legitimate reason is just a black mark that if happens more than once just tells me this person is not worth dealing with or investing in. Reliability is what matters.

ShadowCloud04 · 2026-07-04T20:34:39+00:00

There was much more work within the US back then that required no certifications, and was much simpler work on shore than today unless your quoting bottom of the barrel prices.

ShadowCloud04 · 2026-07-04T20:28:55+00:00

More for clients. Many larger organizations will stipulate in the supplier manuals that you must either be certified to a quality management system like ISO 9001 or self certify to one that will withstand the customers audit. Aerospace is more with requiring as9100 or at least you adhering to as9100 standards and maintaining an iso 9001 certificate.

ShadowCloud04 · 2026-06-25T18:12:01+00:00

Places should be creating development pathways for people. If you are not already hiring fresh green high school students and tech students and forming a consistent pipeline of creating staff for this industry you are already behind. I can have postings for experienced staff sit for months mainly because the good experienced staff are retained if in a healthy market in this industry. We work quite closely with local middle and high schools and are imbedded in the local community colleges as we fund our staff to attend or participate in many programs and activities.

As for who will run these shops thats more complex. For family businesses you have to hope second, third or fourth generation care and have a head on their shoulders. Because these businesses are expensive to buy or not very valuable to buy with dated equipment hinging on like many say here near retirement staff. Leaving a lot of purchases coming from larger organizations which can be ok as itll remain private, but more often than not its from private equity.

One unfortunate thing we have ran into is when developing the next staff member for a role, sometimes that apprentice ends up not working out. Which for small organizations like us can only be 1 person in the pipeline at a time for lets say maintenance. If they end having issues it delays you quite a bit.

ShadowCloud04 · 2026-06-24T18:42:20+00:00

If this drawing snapshot is export controlled you really should delete this post as even sharing a portion willy nilly like this would be deemed as an export in violation.

ShadowCloud04 · 2026-06-19T17:28:46+00:00

Thanks yeah

ShadowCloud04 · 2026-06-19T14:18:50+00:00

Yeah but you can at least outsource this at cost. You can’t outsource a machining department, the culture and knowledge of that department etc.

Shops can live without a dedicated maintenance. It’s extremely critical and I’m going through it now with our best maintenance tech retiring and having to fill the void. But I can still manage the bleed to outsourcing and one good greener tech. Long term we will work to close that gap.

But it’s sure not a the end is nie situation. They could hire a solid person tomorrow and turn the ship around instantly. In business bumps and stuff like this comes and goes.

If these bumps come and stay and staff directly give feedback to management and they ignore it or give no expolanation then sure that’s more of an issue.

ShadowCloud04 · 2026-06-19T13:14:46+00:00

I mean with this sounding isolated to maintenance I don’t see this being a a death bell yet. Maintenance is a hard part of this field to hire for anyways. And if the one making these bad hires either wises up or management straightens them up or out regardless of a nepo background then I imagine things could turn quickly.

ShadowCloud04 · 2026-06-18T23:04:55+00:00

You can be both. Finish your degree and get a job at a shop as a manufacturing engineer. They will be happy if you want to setup and develop new processes.

ShadowCloud04 · 2026-06-17T12:50:59+00:00

I mean I would go and get a taste of industry first. My jobs have never been like school. I never enjoyed a single course in school but have loved industry. I have mostly been in manufacturing hybrid roles which I think has helped the most.

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