Morbark

Morbark is a world class manufacturing company that produces high-performance equipment for forestry, recycling, sawmill, biomass, landscaping/irrigation, and tree care.  Their facility is 1.1 million square feet and is incredible.  Luckily, I was involved in a tour of the facility.  It involved a lot of walking, some protective gear, and a lot of information.

I was fascinated by the machinery and processes used in the Morbark facility.  From nothing, they make huge, functioning, dangerous machinery that has the ability to destroy materials in a matter of seconds.  I have a friend who is involved in manufacturing, and have always wanted to see the facility and machinery he works with.  Although he is a CNC programmer and works in a very, very small facility, the ability to see the types of things manufacturing companies are capable of gave me a clear picture of how talented he really is.

Morbark seems to be a very organized, smooth working company.  Each employee I saw was diligently working on their part, no matter how small, to make the big picture come together.  My favorite part of the tour was the huge piece of metal that was incased in a room with sound reducing insulation.  Machines work to carve out pieces of that metal and I relate it to the CNC milling that I am familiar with.  I've seen machines carve out metal (only in videos) to make precise details, and I imagine the same happening with this piece of metal.

The negative side of the tour involved my personality, and my health.  As a person who likes to move, likes change in projects, and likes to communicate with people while working, the factory would not be a place for me to work.  Also, as a person who is prone to headaches and migraines, the factory would end up triggering them and I would be unable to concentrate or work for that matter.  The smells, sounds, and lights triggered headaches while I was on an hour long tour, I cannot imagine spending my days in the factory.

Overall, I am thankful for the experience at Morbark.  Although my field is not involved in manufacturing directly, it was an experience many people should have.  The manufacturing field does fit many types of personalities, and has opportunities to move up in the company, which is a great aspect.  Morbark is impressive, and now I can understand where manufacturers come from when they say that people can be successful with or without a college education.

Fire up.