A Day in the Life of a Fitting Shop Foreman

Howard Farrar has been working at Apex for 26 years. Howard initially worked in the Strip and Assessment department, but for the past 14 years he has been the Fitting Shop foreman.

In the morning Howard devises a schedule, giving everyone their jobs for the day. There are two people working regularly in the department, though they often draft in other colleagues from the Strip and Assessment department when the need arises. Howard plans repairs, gets approval from Richard (the works manager) and then ensures that they have all the relevant parts available for the work to be completed.

The Fitting Shop is required to liaise closely with all other departments. Each hydraulic system that needs repair is sent initially to the Strip and Assessment department to be dissembled. Once it has been assessed, the customer is given a quote and a delivery date. The Fitting department is key in ensuring that all moves ahead as planned. Sometimes urgent work is even required to be completed the same day so Howard needs to put the incoming jobs into order of priority.

The dissembled hydraulics are sent to the Fitting department. With repaired hydraulic systems, new seals are almost always required. Howard measures up for the new seals, then ensures that they are ordered in if they do not already have them in stock in the stores. The department shot blasts the dissembled tubes and external parts and preps the surface. An old piece of equipment can go from looking unusable and rusty, to having a brand new appearance. The Fitting Shop sends the clean rods and cylinders to the Machine Shop to be worked on and then reassembles it afterwards, adding the new seals.

Howard finds the work interesting and varied, and still considers that he is learning on the job.

“I’ve never been bored in 26 years – there’s always something new to learn.”

The Fitting department sees lots of different specifications -they work on hydraulics for anything from skip wagons, to mining, to factory machinery. Hydraulics for the offshore industry provide particular challenges, constantly pushing boundaries through demand for specialist equipment; requiring specialised paint, seals and ever stronger materials.

After the repaired or new equipment is assembled by the Fitting department, Howard sends it across to the Inspection department for testing. It is at this point that any necessary improvements may be picked up on, and if it is not perfectly right is will come back for further improvements, at which point Howard liaises again with the works manager, designers and Machine Shop foreman to ensure that any flaws are remodelled. With the Fitting shop at the heart of Apex’s business, Howard’s day is always busy.

“I enjoy being hands on and getting involved; I’d get bored sat in an office.”