World Manufacturing Day is a “is a national grassroots movement that demonstrates the reality and future of modern manufacturing careers.” Chris Morrison made his way into manufacturing as a Field Engineer at Augury. Now a Regional Account Executive, he’s spent years in factories across the country and has some hard-earned wisdom to share. Here’s his cheat code for anyone entering the manufacturing world.
I live in a very poor part of Tennessee, and I see what happens when people aren’t working, when they’re not being productive. Whether it’s their fault or not, people who don’t go to work every day aren’t living very good lives. That’s why I love any chance I get to talk to young engineers who are considering manufacturing. I want to tell them what they can look forward to because when you work hard, you get results.
I’m a former US Marine and contractor. Augury was technically my first civilian job. Even before I went into manufacturing, I thought it was an honorable profession. You’re building something for people. I once did an installation at a baby food manufacturer. The site made formula and the people there were really proud to work there and I was proud to be there with them. It sounds crazy, but you don’t realize it—when you’re doing chicken, poultry, whatever—you’re feeding people that are hundreds of miles away. It’s a cool responsibility. You want to get better and work harder because the people waiting for these products are depending on you.
I’ve learned a lot by stepping into factories and helping our customers. I’ve found a cheat code on how to succeed in this industry. So if you’re looking at a career in manufacturing, I want to pass it on.
The Five-Step Cheat Code to Working in Manufacturing
#1: Be Friendly and Easy to Work With
This is a huge advantage if you come into the plant not knowing anything yet. If you just got your mechanical engineering degree and you’re going into your first job, you got to realize you’re starting in the mail room. You have to be friendly to people.
I actually had a massive problem with this until I read a book called How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie, and that book completely flipped how I thought. Even super simple stuff, like using people’s names, can go a long way. It’s all about taking your ego out of it.
Here’s the thing—nobody wants to tell you anything if you’re coming in with an attitude or some excuse. You want to be the person when someone says, “Hey, did you see this?” and you walk over and go, “No, I didn’t. What’s going on?” You want to be the person they’re reaching out to for help.
When you’re at a company for a long period of time, you’ll see everyone get promoted at different rates. It’s wise not to burn bridges in this marathon. People’s position can change rapidly. If your buddy all of a sudden goes up two or three ranks, they’re going to remember they can go to you for anything. You can also start moving up the ranks.
#2: Share What You Know
Even if you think somebody knows something, tell them anyway. We always assume that everybody knows what we do, and that’s not the case.
The biggest surprise I had at Augury happened when I was talking about field engineering stuff to some of the guys who had been field engineers longer than me. I provided them with info they didn’t know. I realized that if I have any doubt, I need to bring up the information.
Technology helps with this too. Even something as simple as Google slides. I can’t tell you how many hours I’ve spent building presentations to get the buy-in I needed from my boss or boss’s boss. Then there are things like predictive maintenance. Take the Augury platform. Say a guy retires and you’re going to check out a machine. You can go back and look at what they’ve done through the historical record. You’ll know so much without having to tear something apart, and that can save a lot of time and money.
Don’t hoard information, it doesn’t make you important because you know the answers, it slows down everyone else. Be courageous and speak up.
#3: Use Insults as an Honor
Let it be known—the culture in manufacturing will test you quite a bit. But the testing is to see what reaction you’ll give.
I learned this in my first job in construction after high school. I used to have wire nuts all over me, so they literally called me Wire Nut. I was like, “All right, I’m Wire Nut.” I could have gotten mad about it, but I didn’t worry about it. I embraced it.
If someone’s messing with you at work—kind of giving you a little bit of a hard time, making your job a little bit harder in a funny way—that just means they like you. They like hanging out with you. Trash talk is seriously friendly. It’s one of the things the newer generation doesn’t get. Like, “That guy just said something really rude. He shouldn’t have said that.” Pump the brakes. He’s just messing with you. You’re fine.
So many factories I go to, I see my main site contact greet another guy by flipping him off. Then the other guy flips him off back with a smile. If it goes too far, yes, that’s an absolute problem, but you know where that is. Embrace where you’re at.
#4: Ask the Elders/Experienced Personnel Who Have Been There and Done That
You’re coming into a factory with a fresh set of eyes, which is a massive advantage. That’s why you want to attach yourself to the folks that have been there for 30 years, 25 years. Hell, some factory I’ve gone to, there’s a guy that’s been there for 44 years.
Those long-timers are starting to retire, but there’s experienced personnel coming up too. Definitely get a hold of someone who did your job before. Ask questions. Get the knowledge and save yourself the time of having to figure everything out on your own. Learn what they did before and if it didn’t work out, why that was. It could be a case where the tools and technology might not have caught up at the time. New possibilities might be there now.
#5: Trust Yourself
When you’ve done your research and homework, make a decision and own it. Put some skin in the game. When you put your career on the line, people know that you’re serious. And if you’re wrong, own that. Learn how to take criticism.
The industry will test you. Trust yourself enough to handle it. Be proud of who you are. For the people coming up, be proud of your generation. Be like, “I’m Gen Z. We’re going to show you what’s up.”
If you’re smart enough, you should try manufacturing. And Gen Z is extremely smart. I still talk to my old gunnery sergeants and master sergeants. Once these folks build up their resilience, they’re amazing. They see things different.
I’m a millennial born in 1987. I grew up with the rise of the internet. I got to see hardware and then software. But this new group grew up on the screens. They’re able to navigate everything faster. They were born for this.
This new generation has the smarts to move manufacturing into the future. So trust yourself and get to work. The world needs you.
Want to see how technology like Augury is transforming manufacturing? Learn how we’re helping facilities share knowledge, prevent downtime, and work smarter.
