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| “Learning Mastercam in school got me into OCC. This is my dream job and I love it here, even though it gets pretty stressful with those big guys pushing to hit deadlines. Mastercam sure helps make my job easier” |
- Ty Kropp
Machinist
Orange County Choppers |
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Like many young men, Ty Kropp had no idea what he wanted to do when he graduated from high school. As a junior, he signed up for architectural design courses at the Ulster County Career and Technical Education Center in Port Ewen, New York. But Ty found the pace of the work a little slow for his liking -- too much time sitting at the computer. So, whenever he got a chance, Ty would head out to the shop and watch friends operate the CNC (Computer Numerical Control) manufacturing equipment --hands on-- much better.
Fast-forward two years. Ty has landed a job working in the machine shop at OCC (Orange County Choppers), a custom motorcycle manufacturing business with its own TV program on the Discovery Channel. "American Chopper" lets viewers look over the shoulders of the designers and machinists as they conceive and build one-of-a-kind chopper motorcycles and accessories. They make just about all the parts themselves using steel and aluminum and advanced manufacturing equipment that any shop would be proud of. The program is shot in a machining and fabrication reality environment, complete with a big mustached boss who sometimes explodes when work lags behind.
To meet the demands of the American Chopper production schedule, Ty assists lead engineer Jim Quinn in programming CNC mills and lathes and setting up these machines to cut the unique parts required to make one new custom motorcycle a week. And guess what? Ty still spends a good deal of his time working at a computer. But he is all right with that because everything at OCC is so fast paced.
He said, "It's pretty good here. Sometimes it gets very stressful with deadlines. You know, you got those big guys yelling at you that the stuff has to get out."
Ty is very appreciative of the classes and the teacher who helped him land the job at OCC: "It was a really good class. The teacher, Mark Harris, taught me everything (besides what Jim taught me here). In the first year at the school they started me on the CNC. I did really well with that, and got a few certifications in lathe. When I came here, Jim started to teach me on the mill.
"I didn't really want to learn Mastercam that much in school," Ty said, "but my instructor told me that it would be useful to me. He was right. When I came here, almost everything I did was in Mastercam. It was so much quicker than the programming we did at school."
Jim Quinn said, "As OCC expanded, adding several new CNC machines, it became obvious that I would need help running them.” He called his friend Mark Harris, at the local VocTech program, and told him to bring his top three seniors in for an interview. “All three were technically ready to step in and do this. We felt Ty was a great fit for the small family atmosphere we have here.”
"From day one Ty has been on the machines setting up, running, cleaning, doing whatever he needed to do. And he knows exactly what he's doing, which is the big thing. When we brought in the CNC lathe, Ty had more experience on it than I did. Now if we need an exhaust tip or a flip tag or handgrip turned up on that lathe for a custom project, Ty is our go-to guy."
In six frenetic years, Discovery Channel viewers have watched OCC grow from three employees to 60, fill its 30,000 sq. ft. shop with some of the world's finest hi-tech manufacturing equipment, and boost its production to 80 commissioned custom choppers in 2005. This summer, OCC opened an additional 100,000 sq. ft. manufacturing facility. This plant will allow OCC to ramp up production to the point where it can produce a small line of limited edition bikes and boost overall production to 120 bikes in 2006 and as many as 240 in 2007.
Now, thanks to some good training, Ty Kropp is right there in the middle of all the excitement.
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