Bill Burns of Hall Industries is a proponent of careers in manufacturing, having built a 40-plus year successful career himself advancing from welder to machinist to shop foreman to his current role as manager of manufacturing technology.
Bill Burns didn’t realize it at the time, but his natural curiosity as a child disassembling broken kitchen appliances served as a foundation for what would ultimately become a successful 40-plus- year career in manufacturing.
“This might sound kind of silly, but my dad would let me take things apart, especially things that were broken,” he said. “If they bought a new toaster, the old one wasn’t going in the garbage until I took it apart. That’s just how I was wired.”
Burns has been mechanically inclined since his youth. He was fascinated with Erector sets and he loved working on bicycles and go-carts.
“Even now, no one is putting brakes on my car but me. That’s just the way it is.”
Find your passion … then make it your career
Burns never intended to go to college. He knew it wasn’t a path of interest for him. And he doesn’t regret his decision to this day.
Instead, after high school he went to a tech school welding program and earned a certification after nine months that enabled him to hit the ground running at Hall Industries in Pittsburgh (now located in Ellwood City).
“Welding was something I had an interest in learning, plus it paid well and there was a lot of opportunity there,” he said.
He didn’t know a lot about welding going into the program, he said. But once he tried it, he knew he found his match. He knew he wanted to build his career around it.
“I got real satisfaction from laying down a nice bead and fitting something up and making it perfect, just like the drawing said,” Burns said. “There was a whole lot of personal satisfaction beyond the paycheck and the accolades from management.”
Burns’ own grit and determination combined with his employer’s career-development culture were a perfect fit at Hall Industries. His opportunities, as he put them, kept “climbing and building on each other.”
From welder to machinist to supervisor
“I knew I wasn’t going to get ahead if I wasn’t willing to work,” he said.
When 12-hour shifts or 6-day work weeks were called for, Burns would work them. When new machines were brought online, he would be among the first to volunteer to learn how to run them.
“When we bought our first CNC machine lathe, there was another fellow who passed up an opportunity to go on night shift and run it, so I said ‘I’ll do it.’”
Burns said he impressed the manager and was so “full-blown” into it that they started buying more. They ultimately accumulated six machines.
“And I ran them all. I programmed them all and I ran them all. I would do my own setups. Whatever was needed.”
Burns’ command of the machines and knowledge of the inner workings of the plant floor eventually earned him a promotion to shop foreman.
Still learning and adding value in new ways
Burns is proof that finding something you enjoy doing, keeping your nose clean, and doing good work for a good employer will take you places. Today, Burns is the Manager of Manufacturing Technology at Hall Industries. By his count, it’s at least his seventh promotion at the company.
Among other responsibilities, he’s re-creating and digitizing legacy print drawings using CAD software and adding efficiencies into many of the roles he’s personally held on the plant floor throughout his career.
He says manufacturing has not only provided him with a satisfying professional life, but an enriching personal one, as well. It’s a life that includes a wife, two adult daughters and six grandchildren.
“And I still bike, fish, camp and kayak routinely,” he said. “We have a nice home, we go on vacation every year and I have nice vehicles.
“I would highly recommend this career path for people that want to do it. I would do it all over again in a heartbeat.”
Hall Industries is a founding member of Lawrence Mercer Manufacturers Coalition, an industry-led association of manufacturers in the region focused solely on addressing workforce development challenges.
