THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 2, 1996 TAG: 9607310159
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JENNIFER BENNETT, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: 109 lines
The buzzing machines that shape sides, round edges and bore holes through metal in the machine shop at Tidewater Community College's Portsmouth campus have stopped for now.
Wrapping up another year at the only remaining post-secondary machine training facility in Hampton Roads, Robert B. Shirk, who founded the program 17 years ago, prepares for more students.
``It's a tremendous feeling to take a group of students with little or no experience and watch them develop and become ready for work,'' said Shirk, 62, coordinator of machine technology at TCC.
College is not for everyone, he said. This program gives people with good eye-hand coordination and math skills an opportunity to gain self-respect and earn a decent wage. Shirk has placed more than 250 machining professionals in the manufacturing industry, he said. Some former students advanced into supervising, engineering or shop ownership. Others applied their skills to graphics and design, he added.
``The average household has no idea what (machinists) do,'' Shirk said.
Simply put, machinists make individual parts needed to manufacture many of the machines and appliances and gadgets used in the home and industry. Raw materials they use range from aluminum to steel.
Machinists' measurements can be as precise as the size of a single human hair, said Shirk, a Harrisburg, Pa., native who now resides in Suffolk. These skilled laborers are held to strict blueprint specifications because each part must fit correctly with adjoining pieces. Therefore, operators must account for every item they produce.
Moreover, machinists operate heavy-duty rotating equipment that splits metal like a meat slicer cuts bologna. One wrong move could cost an operator a finger, hand, arm or worse, he added.
Some students, fresh out of high school, come to the machine shop unsure of themselves and lacking in confidence, Shirk said. He said he was the same way at their age. That was 44 years ago.
Now with his fingertips bent from arthritis, Shirk sits stationed at a desk in the corner of the noisy shop like a king on his throne. Students in goggles approach him one by one, seeking advice or approval of their work.
``We teach them to be confident in their competency,'' Shirk said, ``to respect their machines and how to operate the machines in a safe manner.''
In the machine technology program, students learn mathematical formulas for measuring and blueprint reading. They operate milling machines, drill presses and lathes according to set safety standards. The school also offers classes in Computerized Numerical Control machining, in which a machine run by a computer can mass-produce single parts.
Shirk got his training in the U.S. Navy, for which he did machining as a machinery repairman. He had enlisted right after high school. While there, Shirk thought machining would be interesting so he requested training. The Navy sent him to school in San Diego.
His training enabled him to work in his field on ships across the globe. At one time, he worked as a nuclear power plant operator on the Long Beach, a nuclear-powered warship, he said. Shirk also repaired nuclear submarine machinery aboard the Holland, a submarine tender.
Along the way, he found another interest: shooting. He attended school for Navy armament and began to compete. At one marksmanship competition in Camp Perry, Ohio, Shirk placed third in the nation in the military category, he said. He toured for three years with the National Navy Pistol Marksmanship Team. Later, he taught soldiers to shoot pistols and rifles. That experience sparked his love for teaching, he said.
``I thought I had a knack for it,'' Shirk said. ``I like teaching so much I wanted to make it my life's work.''
Before he started that work, however, he did machine maintenance and repair again until retiring after20 years in the Navy. Stationed in Hampton Roads, he decided to stay because of the military presence and job opportunities, Shirk said. Also, since his wife, Jeanne Shirk, is from North Carolina, she could be closer to her home.
Once retired, Shirk used the G.I. Bill to go to college. He graduated from Norfolk State University with a bachelor's degree in industrial and vocational education. He also earned two masters' degrees: one in secondary education at Old Dominion University, the other in occupational education from Virginia Tech.
Shirk taught vocational education classes at Norfolk Vocational-Technical Center in Norfolk and Norcom High School in Portsmouth before he became a full-time professor at TCC in 1978. While teaching classes part-time at TCC, Shirk spent one year laying the foundation for today's machine technology program, which offers certification.
He surveyed local manufacturing companies to assess their needs. According to Shirk, respondents said they needed employees with machine shop theory and skills learned on machines like theirs. Ordering specific machines, tools and textbooks, Shirk devised a program to fit the bill.
``I credit the foresight of the administration for giving me a year to develop the program,'' Shirk said. ``You can't teach machine shop with a chalkboard. That's why we still exist.''
The industry, and its needs, have changed over the years. Shirk said that computerization has made a tremendous impact in manufacturing sector employment. That fact has affected program enrollment adversely.
However, he said the machining profession is still secure for at least two reasons. First, many conventional machines remain in use and will continue to do so. Second, ``manufacturing will never cease'' because consumers always demand new convenience appliances and machines, he said.
Between 1990 and 1995, civilian employment in industrial machinery equipment manufacturing in Hampton Roads rose approximately 10 percent annually, according to the 1995 Greater Hampton Roads Compensation and Labor Market Survey. According to the same survey, area machinists earn a median income of $28,000 a year.
Shirk and his wife have resided in Suffolk for 20 years. They have six adult children, seven grandchildren and one great-grandchild. In his spare time, he enjoys flying his airplane. He plans to keep teaching for the immediate future.
``If I can teach people to work on rotating equipment and not get hurt, that's a tremendous feeling for the students and me,'' he said. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MARK MITCHELL
Bob Shirk coordinates machine technology at Tidewater Community
College. by CNB