I find that the laser cutter is the lifeblood of the company. At least that’s a big part of the business. We make no money if there is no light in the lamp on the machine. So, I make sure the lamp is on all day and to get the right plates in our warehouse. 

I feed the machine. Start it. Cut it. It must run day and night. They create the order and program it in the office. We get them down. Get them shipped. Quickly. Effective. We can deliver in a short time. Over to the bracket or finished to the customer.
I cut what the customer has ordered, put the items on pallet, frame it, attach a sticker to it, run it out and then it’s done.

When the machine is running, there are lots of things you need to do. Pour water on the truck. Maintain the machines. These are expensive machines. It’s something you must understand.
You must be very careful and be able to hear if something sounds wrong and find out what it is. We need to know what we are doing.

What characterizes a good operator?

A good operator experience. We train new people through peer training. It takes at least a year before you can call yourself an experienced operator. One quickly notices whether a man can become a good operator. They must be interested and engaged, ask questions and be able to learn from your mistakes. Using a wrong sheet costs a lot of money. So, you must be able to endure being corrected.
But it’s not rocket science. Calm down and it will be alright. You need to use your common sense. You have a lot of freedom when you work at Alusteel. Overall, it’s fine. We are free. But there are some who cannot cope with freedom. You need to be able to do that at Alusteel. And many can, as we can see through our lengthy employments. When I started, I did not think I would remain at Alusteel for very long. But here I am. The job is good and i have now been here for more than nine years.
“It takes eight years to build up a good reputation and five minutes to shatter it. We do everything in our power to avoid the bad five minutes.”

Jens Rasmussen
Laser cutter operator