Holding it together for 40 years

From the Henry County Herald, a feel-good story about a lifetime in the welding industry. See the entire story over there...

When Stanley Head was laid-off from his job in construction, he wasn't exactly sure what he would do with the rest of his life. It was just before Christmas in1962.

But a friend said that the Snapper plant in McDonough was hiring, so he applied.

And he's been there ever since.

"I basically like what I do," said Head, now 60-years-old and supervising the welding department, where he began as a rank-and-file welder's helper after a short stint cleaning parts.

"We make things, and every time you make something, there's a certain fulfillment in it," he said.

Indeed, the Snapper manufacturing plant in McDonough produces a number of the company's lawn care and snow-blowing products, including its signature red, rear-engine riding lawnmower.

Head, who moved up the ladder in the company's welding division, became its welding supervisor in 1974 and has seen the technology used in fusing metal parts move from a hands-on process toward one with more and more automation.

"When I first started here, we did what we called arc welding," Head said. Today, it's "almost all robotic welding."