By Rob Munro
All of us at AERA try to attend as many different conferences that relate to our industry as we can throughout the year. Not only is engine technology changing at lightning speed, so is the way engine builders are doing business. The faster we can gain knowledge of how the industry is changing, the better we can stay connected to help serve our member shops.
One conference I had the opportunity to attend recently had a breakout session to speak on improving shop culture. We all got to take a turn to share our ideas that could help improve employee engagement, productivity, and employee retention. There were many good ideas discussed about how to improve tracking of billable hours, streamlining processes, setting clear goals, etc. One person stood up and shared that he needs ideas to help him push his employees harder; he wants a better bottom line. As I sat and listened to everyone speak, I put myself in the boots of the technician for a minute. The one thing that I couldn’t help thinking to myself was, WHERE DID ANY OF THE FUN GO! I know it’s called work, but you still must wake up in the morning and want to be there.
Read this article with all images in the digital issue of Engine Professional magazine https://engineprofessional.com/2024EPQ1/#p=72
When I first started out in a shop, I got really lucky! The guy that owned the shop at that time was for sure the king when it came to fun, there weren’t too many days where he wasn’t telling jokes or looking to pull a prank. He also knew how to get you to produce, there was always a combination of fun and competition, he could hold his own when it came to pumping out machine work and constantly pushed you to improve. When I went out on my own 10 years later, I tried to take that same philosophy with me.
Like most of you that have worked in a shop, we all have our fair share of funny stories we can tell. I’m sure some of you have asked the apprentice to change out those muffler bearings before or have left a charged condenser on the bench for them to grab a hold of. It’s these kinds of stories that we remember and use as learning experiences as we get older. There are several good stories that come to mind that I used as learning experiences when I looked back that I thought I would share. As the new kid, sometimes I didn’t think some of them were funny at the time, but man I sure do laugh about the fun we had now.
After graduating out of the engine tear down department in the shop, one of the first jobs I learned was to resize rods on a Sunnen Power Stroked Rod Hone. My first lesson was the importance of always checking over your machine before you turn it on. The lesson would start with one of the crew calling me away to do something like unload an engine, then they would mess with the setup of the machine and re-direct the oil nozzles towards the front and crank up the oil coolant pressure to max. When I got back, I always forgot to check the machine over before hitting the start button and would get completely soaked in honing oil before I could reach over to get it stopped, they caught me on this one more than once.
Since they had so much fun with me and honing oil, the next little prank I will never forget. We used to have an old Coke machine that dispensed glass bottles and the owner had a key. At lunch time I loved an ice-cold Coke, and they knew that. The day before this happened, the crew had filled an empty Coke bottle with honing oil from the CK-10, capped it, and placed it in the Coke machine as the next one to be dispensed. Of course, I had no idea, I put in my 50 cents and out it came, the Coke looked completely normal and was ice-cold. I cracked the cap, took my first big swig, and now know what Sunnen’s CK-50 honing oil tastes like, YUCK… I can still taste it.
Coffee time around the shop was always full of laughter, stories, and of course doughnuts. We always had customers dropping off a dozen in hopes of getting a job done sooner or perhaps a better price. We had one customer who was the boss’s buddy always dropping by to eat his fair share of the doughnuts, but never participated in bringing any of his own for us. He loved the cream filled ones and seemed to always get in the coffee room a few minutes before the rest of us and scooped all the good ones. Our prankster boss decided that we’re going to teach him a lesson. The next day with a dozen fresh doughnuts in hand, he took our grease gun with the needle adapter and injected all the cream filled ones with white lithium grease. This was a perfect set up and the doughnuts looked untouched, we were finally going to get this guy! Boss man allowed us to get into the coffee room a little early to see this all unfold. We were all expecting the same reaction as to what happened to me and the honing oil, a big YUCK! But NO, he came in, ate a whole doughnut, and didn’t even break a smile. When we asked if he wanted a second, he politely just said no, I’m full. Several weeks later he admitted that he knew what we had done. He said he didn’t care how bad that doughnut tasted, he wasn’t going to give us the satisfaction of knowing we had pranked him.
We were also a very competitive crew — we were always trying to set new shop records for things like who could cut and torque a set of Big Block Chevy rods the fastest, or how many times you could arm curl a Ford 391 industrial crank. One morning the boss comes over and said to me, “Have you ever tried putting your fist in the valve spring compressor and testing your strength?” I said you better show me this one, I’ve never heard of it. He made a fist, put it in the valve spring compressor, and pulled the handle down to about 150 PSI. Well, next thing you know the whole crew is over and we are all trying to set a record for closed fist pressure (this is not a spec that we have in the AERA Tech Department). I think there were more lost bets over lunch on that competition than any other game we played. I’ll bet Rimac never had this in mind either when they were selling this machine.
The last story I will share was one where I learned that just because they are your boss, doesn’t mean that they know what’s best for you outside the shop doors. We used to lift everything out of the hot tank except engine blocks by hand. One morning while lifting a Ford 390 intake manifold out of the hot tank, the hook slipped, and I smashed it between my eyes needing stitches. My boss (yes, that same “king of fun” guy) said he would take me to the hospital. The nurse came in and said that the cut looked to need about five stitches and the doctor will be in shortly to get me fixed up. While waiting my boss says to me, “You know that the needles to freeze the cut are the worst, they hurt way more than the injury itself, I would just get it stitched up.” I was 18 years old at the time and I had stiches before, but never had I tried it without freezing. I told the doctor that I will go without freezing on this one as per my boss’s recommendation. Well, I’m not going to lie, I felt EVERYTHING, and it hurt like hell! When the doctor finished up, my boss said to me, “You know, you’re one tough cookie – I would have never tried that…”
Now, you’re probably asking yourself, where is he going with all these stories and silliness? Are we to start drinking honing oil and filling doughnuts with lithium grease at lunch time? NO, speaking from experience this is not a good idea! However, it’s no secret that the whole engine building industry suffers from a revolving door of constant machinist turn-around right now. Finding good machinists and keeping them is on everyone’s radar. Perhaps a few simple team building exercises to help improve employee engagement can help. If you’re having fun going to work every day, engagement, productivity, and employee retention will all improve. It certainly can’t hurt!
Read this article with all images in the digital issue of Engine Professional magazine https://engineprofessional.com/2024EPQ1/#p=72