Marciniak is a fix-it star on Rockwell's team
by Paul V. Arnold
Bruce Marciniak says its in his blood. Hes a tinkerer, a problem-solver, a fix-it guy.
I got it from my uncle, says the 36-year-old machine repair mechanic and MRO Today magazines MRO Pro for December 1998/January 1999.
I used to spend all my summers at his farm. Wed stay up until 2 or 3 in the morning building stuff and fixing equipment.
For the past five years, Marciniak has gotten his fixing fix at Rockwell Automation/Allen-Bradley in Milwaukee.
There, he handles machine maintenance for the second floor, keeping computer-numeric control lathes and mills, high-production lathes, screw machines, drill presses, and heat-treat areas such as furnaces and ovens up and running.
It feels good to say, I can keep this floor running, he says. I work on a good floor. I like the diversity of the equipment, and the equipment within the equipment. We have new machines and some that are 50, 60 or more years old. Theres specialty equipment, a lot of Allen-Bradley-made equipment. Theres real sophisticated machines. We have some pieces with electric, hydraulic and pneumatic components, plus robotics and software, all in the same machine.
Like the machinery, Marciniaks service calls range from basic to ultra-complex.
People stop me a couple of times a day and ask me to take a look at their machine, he says. Most of the time, its just a minor adjustment. But then theres the other end of the spectrum.
We had a real head-scratcher recently on a machine that manufactures relay switches. We had a drive problem that presented itself. We didnt know if the problem was electrical or mechanical. The machine would just kick out. It took three efforts to try to find it. First, we went through the mechanical end of it, then the electrical, and then we ended up going through a service provider. Together, we narrowed the problem down. It ended up being a bad drive cage.
Marciniak has learned communication and teamwork can be as important as any tool he brings to the job.
The more you know and understand, the better, he says. In our department, information is shared. I might be able to help somebody out of a jam one day, but that person might be helping me out the next.
That team attitude is set into motion at the start of the work day.
Every morning, our department meets with the bosses and discusses the status of machines, he says. We find out whats broken and discuss strategies for fixing them, or the progress of repairs. We also develop a priority list for the days repairs. The most important machines are the ones we work on first. The meeting is a way for everybody to be on the same page.
And the same team. But Marciniak knows that squad contains more than just maintenance workers.
When I go fix a machine, I always make sure I talk to the operator of that machine, because he or she is the one who knows it best, he says. Those people work day in and day out on their machine. They know when something is wrong with it and they can provide information you can use to isolate the problem and repair it. I depend on them.
Just as they depend on Bruce.
This article appeared in the December 1998/January 1999 issue of MRO Today magazine. Copyright, 1998.
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