Adventure Group was the first ever Carotek field trip !
Carotek was founded in 1965. The name was created from Carolina and Technical together as the Carolinas were the original areas served. Now, Carotek serves the southeast region of the United States and even some international areas such as Russia, Australia, and Canada.
This is what we saw upon entering the building.
I love her sign. Isn’t this the truth for any company?!?
We first toured the mechanical building. Here work is assembled, welded, and painted.
Mr. Duane Will, the Mechanical Shop Foreman, told us many processes assembled here are the ultimate recyclers; utilizing methane from waste or landfills for free energy. He also discussed natural gas pipelines and how units used in that process are hydro (water) tested before sending out.
Here is a before, during, and after picture with the final product painted on the right (below).
This is the paint area.
You can see repair orders on the shelves behind the kids.
On an interesting note, Carotek didn’t feel the decline that most businesses felt in the recession beginning in 2008. On the contrary, their business grew, new offices opened, and additional employees were hired.
There are only a few Process Training Units in the country. Larry Sims, the Vice President of Strategic Accounts, said it was like constructing a huge Lego set; one that cost over a million dollars. We toured the Electrical and Instrumentation part of the complex.
We could see that Larry truly loves his job.
Here he shows us electrical panels and processes that students in training classes can learn, hands on.
I was impressed with how Mr. Sims gave real examples of the importance of math in careers at Carotek as engineers or other professions in this field. He also gave examples of technology to the kids (and adults) that we could relate to in an understandable way.
This is Bella the Dog (named after the founder Mr. Bell) creatively constructed from electrical parts (below).
Here, an employee is working on an electrical panel board. It was huge and looked tedious to put together. Carotek assembles and ships these just about everywhere.
Andon Mobile technology can track productivity in manufacturing. It can run on any Apple iOS device (ipad, itouch, i phone) and is very 21st century. The scoreboard screen below shows 4 manufacturing lines competing for top place in productivity.
For manufacturing lines to be able to tell when they are out of materials or when a line is down, saves the company money and ultimately saves the consumer money. As, Evette Austin, the Director Of Marketing mentioned, efficiency and lower costs can help keep jobs in the United States.
Although much of what Carotek does was over my head, it was a great learning experience. It was inspiring for our students to be able to consider careers in this field.
Thank you, Eddie Bell, for a great tour.
