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Gar-Kenyon’s Carriero: Things
of Beauty
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Business New Haven
1/12/1998
By: BNH
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Vincent Carriero is a “lead person” for the New Haven Manufacturing Co., which has three divisions: Stromberg/ABE makes time clocks for freighting machines; Amatom makes computer hardware for PC boards and handles for computer machines; and Gar Kenyon makes hydraulic valves for commercial and government aircraft.
Carriero works for Gar Kenyon, where he started a machine operator in 1970. Although he still works on the machines daily, he mainly sets up machines and supervises the manufacturing floor so that jobs move smoothly and efficiently.
The machines were operated manually until about 1980, when they were replaced with computer numerical control (CNC) machines.
How did Carriero learn his trade? “From the people before me,” he says. “And, basically, a lot of experience. You learn the skill as you go, but the more experience you have, the more efficient you are.”
Carriero has so much experience by now that he can simply look at the specifications for a job and visualize what the part looks like, transferring the numbers on the computer screen into a mental picture.
Carriero says the change from manual to computer was difficult in the beginning because the machines were set up so differently. “It was a humbling experience,” he recalls. “It took me about a year to learn it. With CNC equipment, you make a part basically complete in one setup. Twenty years ago, you did one operation at a time, so you had less dimensions to worry about. Now the part comes off complete, and you have to check 30, 40, 50 dimensions.”
What's important to manufacturing at Gar Kenyon? “First, you have to learn the computer end of it,” says Carriero. “Then you have to know the inspection part of it. If you don't know how to inspect a part, you could be making scrap all day - junk - and not know it.”
Carriero takes his job seriously. “These parts are for aircraft,” he explains. “If a car stalls on a highway, you just pull over. But if an engine stalls on an aircraft, you could crash. So these are very precise parts.”
“The finished product” is what Carriero likes about his job of 27 years. “They're beautiful. After they're painted and put on a plane, it's a real sense of accomplishment. The work is not easy. You have to be careful. Not only do the dimensions have to be to tolerance, but the parts have to look good. Cosmetics are important.”
- K.W.
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