WATERVLIET ARSENAL, N.Y. (April 2016) -- Military manufacturing is tough, grueling business as heavy forging machines pound material into shape and milling machines shave hardened metal in cuts that are often measured in the thousandths of an inch.
But overhead that cauldron of activity on the production floors is a balancing act that would rival the Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas. Because that's where one would find the Arsenal's crane operators.
Every day, hundreds of large tubes for tank and field artillery systems are moved or stored on one of the Watervliet Arsenal's production floors. And when the tubes are moved, it becomes marriage, if you will, as machinists and crane operators become one as they rig slings and connect hook devices onto tubes ... tubes that sometimes seem to have a life of their own once they are lifted.
According to Dave O'Rourke, the Arsenal's senior crane operator whose steady nerves were proven in the jungles of Vietnam where he served as a Marine, there is never a sense of comfort when slinging and moving a cannon or howitzer tube.
"I have been a crane operator for 15 years and there has not been a day when thoughts of runaway cranes or dropped loads do not cross my mind," O'Rourke said. "In my business, you have to approach each load as if you had never handled that type of load before. Because if you don't, complacency may get someone killed."
Fellow crane operator, Jesus Guerra, echoed O'Rourke's concerns as he recalled his last 18 months here as a crane operator.
"When it comes to moving a load, it doesn't matter how much experience the machinist on the floor has because it is up to us, as crane operators, to ensure the load is moved safely," Guerra said. "As cranes and tubes react differently, you can't fall into a false sense of security that what we did yesterday will work today."
George Pusins, a manufacturing center supervisor who oversees the crane operation, said that the safe movement of tubes, which are often valued in excess of $100,000, is an awesome responsibility not only due to the cost of the tubes, but also due to the cost of an injury or loss of life.
"My five-man team safely handle tens of millions of dollars of product every year," Pusins said. "But what I am most proud of is that my team does what they do with an acute sense of the importance of protecting every worker here."
To watch the crane operators in action is like watching a battle drill in a brigade tactical operations center. When a light turns on above a machine, which signals a machinist is complete with a machining operation and the tube is ready to be moved to the next machine or location, crane operators immediately drop what they are doing, climb the ladders, and put the crane in motion.
In those short moments before a tube is moved, the crane operator ensures the work area is free of hazards, the floor along the route is free from tripping hazards, the load is safely secured and balanced, and that experienced personnel involved in the transfer, transition to a role of safety officers, regardless of their position. It simply becomes a marriage -- of safe, fluid actions.
Today's Arsenal is relied upon by U.S. and foreign militaries to produce the most advanced, high-tech, high-powered weaponry for cannon, howitzer, and mortar systems. This National Historic Registered Landmark had $138 million in revenue in fiscal year 2015 and has an annual economic benefit to the local community in excess of $100 million.
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