4 Maintenance Operations “Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” —Theodore Roosevelt Hthinkingyou opefully have a plan by now, and this course is part of your plan. Planning should include about what you are doing, considering the outcomes, and envisioning where you want to be 5, 10, 20, or 30 years from now. Not planning and just hoping that coincidence will get you to your goal will lead you exactly nowhere. Plan now. Expect to study. Expect to constantly learn new technologies and methods. Memorization is not studying it does nothing to help you understand a con- cept. Learning and understanding a concept allows you to apply it over a wide variety of technologies. Experi- enced workers eventually see the same concepts applied over and over again in diff erent areas. Th ey see the big picture and can teach themselves. Th at is the point of education—to understand fundamental concepts and to be able to apply these concepts to solve problems. 1.1 MANUFACTURING IN THE UNITED STATES Manufacturing is the process of converting materials into a product. In the United States, the manufacturing industry is responsible for greater than 10% of the econ- omy. Manufacturing facilities range from large factories xieyuliang/Shutterstock.com Semen Lixodeev/Shutterstock.com Figure 1-1. Durable goods (such as cars) and nondurable goods (such as bread) are produced by machines and automated equipment in manufacturing facilities. Industrial maintenance technicians ensure that these machines and processes function properly. with thousands of workers to small shops with a handful of employees. Manufactured products are often classifi ed as either durable goods or nondurable goods, Figure 1-1. Durable goods are those that remain useful for at least three years, such as cars, appliances, and building materials. Nondurable goods are those that are consumed rela- tively quickly, such as food, shampoo, and gasoline. In the United States there are more than 250,000 manufacturers and more than 12 million manufacturing workers. Th ese 12 million workers make up about 10% of the US workforce. In addition, each job in manufac- turing results in approximately three other jobs outside of the manufacturing sector. Th ese positions could be involved in logistics, raw-material procurement, trans- portation, customer service, or any number of other supporting fi elds. Manufacturing is not a low-paying fi eld. Th e aver- age manufacturing worker in the United States earns more than $25 an hour. Due to retirements, expansions, and lack of skilled talent, more than 2 million manu- facturing jobs are expected to go unfi lled between 2015 and 2025. Th us, many job openings will be available to skilled candidates. See Figure 1-2. Th e increasing use of automation in manufacturing is driving the need for more highly skilled workers. Even entry-level maintenance technicians need to have both mechanical skills and basic automation skills. Even if robots and automation replace all factory fl oor workers, a large number of skilled technicians will be needed to maintain and repair the machines. Nondurable Goods Durable Goods Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc.