ACROSS THE BAY
Robots, Laser-guided Carts, and Northampton Supervisors

Northampton County Supervisors Larry Trala, Willie Randall, and Oliver Bennett, with Janice Williams, assistant to the County administrator, before their tour of the factory. No photos were permitted in the factory. (Wave photo)

By KAREN JOLLY DAVIS
Cape Charles Wave

August 27, 2012

Members of the Northampton County Board of Supervisors went on a field trip last Thursday. They visited the Stihl manufacturing plant in Virginia Beach.

“I heard it was a good trip to see how high quality businesses function,” said board Chairman Oliver Bennett, who is also a teacher. “I wanted to see the operation, and see what we should be teaching our students.”

Bennett drove the small white activities bus that took the group to the factory. The building was huge — more than 2 million square feet of interior space on 150 acres, with 1,900 employees.

Most of the work was done by enormous robots, with a skilled technician manning two or three machines at a time. Long assembly lines filled several buildings, with people in high-tech workstations fitting, measuring, and inspecting the products in 12-hour shifts.

“What are you looking for in a student coming out of high school?” asked Supervisor Willie Randall.

Stihl spokesman Simon Nance said the company looked for a good understanding of logic and math.

“For all those students who want to know what they’re going to do with math,” said Nance, “a production planner uses math all day, every day.

“Attendance is important,” he continued. “Those employees who select themselves out of the organization are frequently those who don’t show up on time. Work ethic is huge.”

Dozens of forklifts whipped around the factory, and there were large, laser guided, unmanned carts that zipped through the wide spaces between machines. Except for the people — who were mostly older — the factory could have come straight out of a science fiction movie.

“We test our new hires by giving them a problem that can’t be solved in the amount of time they are given, to see how they do under pressure,” said Nance. “Do they ask questions? Have they been taught to learn?”

“So, you’re looking for kids who can solve problems,” said Randall. Nance nodded. He said Stihl has a manufacturing technologies summer camp that was attended by 41 students this year. Registration for camp will be open in October.