Congrats @MOPARMAGA!!!
I grew up in a little town in Pennsylvania. There were huge machine shops everywhere! Frick Company, Grove Cranes, Landis Machine Company and Landis Tool Company.
I went to Vo-tech during high school. 12 grade I did co-op where instead of attending Vo-tech I went to work at Landis Tool Company. After graduating from high school they hired me full-time to run a turret lathe.
Ironic that the company made machines they sold to the auto industry such as crank grinders, cam grinders, and valve grinders. They even had a foundry so they made the entire machine.
After about 3 years Japan started selling their stuff in.the US and 300 of us were laid off. After that I joined the military and my machine shop career was over.
I'm glad you found a job doing something you like. Like they say, if you love what you do, you'll never work a day in your life!!
I swear Pa is nuts with the amount of machine shops. I even has a bronze shop that poured and made bronze gears and bushing 4 miles from my house. Allegheny Ludlum now ATI had an agreement that they wouldn’t steal machinest off each other. Oberg machine shop now has probably five different buildings in a three mile area. Guys have left there to open their own shops. We poured Babbitt bearings in our millwright shop, sent them to our machine shop, then they came back to our millwright shop to “hand frost”. It’s a wonder I’m still alive from lead exposure. At one time there was nothing we couldn’t do in house.