A concrete batching plant operator has good common sense and does not mind getting his hands dirty. He knows how to trouble shoot any problems that arise without always reading a manual or book to look for solutions. With that in consideration, I believe the best operators I have ever seen in the industry and worked with are either farmers or people that ride motorcycles.
Farmers are used to working by themselves and don’t need supervision to do their jobs. They work hard and when a problem arises they know how to fix equipment. Farmers tend to remain calm when problems arise and diagnosis the problem and look for solutions.
People that ride motor cycles especially Harley Davidson bikers take pride in their machine. They like to keep it clean and running to top performance and understand how vital preventative maintenance is to operating any piece of machinery. All batching plant machines make a tremendous loud harmonic sound when they are vibrating and compacting. A Harley rider, like a batching plant operator can be one hundred yards (91 m) away from the batching plant and can hear when something is not adjusted correctly. The same is true when listening to a Harley.
One of the best operators I ever worked with in a batching plant amazed me when he asked me what qualities would should he consider and be looking for when firing a new machine operator. I told him the above story and he told me he was a farmer and owned and road a Harley Davidson Softtail!
