Fresh face of manufacturing

Steven Shaw is 22 years old. He is also the tooling and design engineer at GTVC, Newnan, Ga., and has been for 3 years. In that role, Shaw quotes and schedules jobs, designs and programs parts, sets up and operates machines, handles customer relations and sales and anything else that might come up in the job shop’s day-to-day operations. Also, he was named February’s “Face of Manufacturing,” a program developed by the Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership at Georgia Tech to highlight individuals involved in manufacturing and showcase the industry’s role in the state’s economy. Shaw talked to Cutting Tool Engineering about how he wound up in such an auspicious position, how his career matches with his expectations and his favorite manufacturing project.

CTE: How did you get started in manufacturing?

Shaw: We have a vocational charter school in our county called the Central Educational Center, which is a more career-oriented high school experience—applied skills rather than just math and science. I took preengineering, engineering, welding and a lot of “hard” skills, but engineering really seemed to suit me. I was also in an extracurricular robotics program. After high school, I worked a bunch of internships. I worked for a company that did automation, another that serviced and restored used machinery, and my dad runs an auto shop, so I helped him, too. I also stayed in touch with my engineering teacher from school, and one day he contacted me and said there was a machine shop in Newnan that was looking for an apprentice, which is exactly what I was looking for. The thing is, nobody in my family was a machinist, and I didn’t know anybody who did machining, so it was kind of this mysterious art that I was fascinated by. When the opportunity arose, I seized it.

Steven Shaw, tooling and design engineer for GTVC, is responsible for multiple aspects of shop operation, including machining. All images courtesy Faces of Manufacturing (www.facesofmanufacturing.com).

CTE: What are your responsibilities as GTVC’s tooling and design engineer?

Shaw: Basically, the only things I do not handle are payroll and billing. Then again, there are only four of us here, so we must wear many different hats. Honestly, I never expected to have this much autonomy at such a young age. Golda [Noble, owner of GTVC], for instance, is not in the office right now, and John [Rudisill, operations manager] and I are programming and running jobs and designing parts. There’s been a lot of trust bestowed upon me and it’s better than I ever expected. I always thought I’d be a machine operator—that’s what I wanted all along. I wanted to learn how to run machines, make parts and have that skill under my belt. I did that, and, because I knew SolidWorks, they had me start doing some design, and one thing led to another.

CTE: What did it mean to you to be named February’s “Face of Manufacturing”?

Shaw: It’s a new program, and they’re trying to gain momentum for manufacturing in Georgia and boost manufacturing in the community by recognizing individuals. It’s certainly something I’m happy to be a part of. This is the first year, but, from what I understand, they’re hoping it will be an annual program.

Shaw in the GTVC shop.

CTE: What was your favorite manufacturing job?

Shaw: The coolest thing I’ve worked on so far is suspension components for a power sports manufacturer. Those were done in a pinch, because we only had a couple of weeks’ notice to develop a part. Using full simultaneous machining, we knocked them out of an 8 " cube of aluminum in 6 hours. I’m really proud of that. I’ve got a junk one sitting on the mantle at home. CTE