Imagine you're asked to machine a one-of-a-kind object
to solve a unique problem and then imagine that that problem is part of a
wider project to keep our nation safe
and then imagine that you have all of
the tools and all of the leadership and
a diverse and collaborative team to make
that project a reality.
Can you imagine what you could do?
Welcome to Lawrence Livermore
National Laboratory's Manufacturing Facility.
The lab has an ecosystem.
That ecosystem is
made up of supercomputers
that we have
down the road,
design test facilities like
the National Ignition Facility,
big experimental
facilities out at Site 300 where we do
stockpile testing
and manufacturing is a key part of it.
We have a you know a combination of old
school traditional manufacturing techniques
you know, very manual, all the way up to hybrid additive manufacturing, next
generation manufacturing, smart manufacturing things that we talk about
machine learning and things of that nature where we're
actually going beyond what's capable on the
outside and using it again primarily to meet the stockpile
mission. Stockpile stewardship is the laboratory's core mission and the
manufacturing facility is key to that mission's success.
When the inevitable unique challenge comes their way this team knows they
have everything they need to succeed.
It never surprises me when they come
back and say Blanca
we couldn't do it in
the outside we have
to use manufacturing
here on site. Can our people do it here?
and sometimes we are able to and sometimes we can't but the best thing is
when we can't then they'll come back and say hey
how about we try it this way. What you know can we change this can we do this
and then we really work with the customer to try to
and the customers are great. They're like perfect I didn't even think about
that or I didn't know we could do that and so the communication between the
customer and manufacturing is key.
So we definitely work with our
counterparts in different shops if they need our assistance
to be in product about timeline delivery.
We could also
do a pre-inspection on the parts being made on the floor.
It's all because we don't have to wait
for the finished part we can inspect as
is being made to let them know where
they're at with their fixture and design
or tooling or how close the tolerances are coming into spec
from how they're working on in real time.
Having all of these tools and this body
of knowledge at your disposal is great but you don't just walk in here
and know what to do. So you need this strong culture of
mentorship and guidance and the well-established apprenticeship program
to build on this foundation that is now 50 years strong.
Learned a lot of different things.
Worked on a lot
of different machines.
New tools. New setups. Basic parts. Complex parts. I'll get
started on that on the computer. Bring up the 3D model
and start planning it from there. If I have any problems I can go ask any of
the guys around here who have years of experience
and they can guide me through that process.
Opportunities like the apprenticeship program form great teams and then those
teams can collaborate to solve some of the biggest and most unique challenges
the Laboratory faces every day it's great to think that they can come
up with these great ideas they have it in their head, they put it
in the computer and you know they we could do this but actually to make it
is a whole different animal right so
we're trying to come up with you know how we're going to do this how
we're going to make that that a reality and how we're actually going
to configure you know whether it's holding tight tolerances or whether it's
you know using different types of materials
experimenting with different types of materials we have those capabilities
here
the day-to-day is all completely different depends on what our customer
needs are from what NIF needs us to do to help
calibrate their diagnostics that are going to be used on
the shot to HEAF needing us to characterize parts
that are being made just to make sure for fit checks for
for their experiments uh as well as like one of our biggest ones is WCI, making
sure that we properly support them with our data
or with the incoming parts that are being made. If we do support Site 300
we have a inspector that supports them up there as needed
when they have parts to be inspected with he.
We also do work
again we do work with other laboratories as well right now we're working with
Kansas City and we're working with the Nevada Test Site
on top of the one-of-a-kind facility on top of the remarkable challenges
on top of the singular mission we have the opportunity to create something
great here and we have the tools to solve any
problem but if you look a little closer you'll also see that the manufacturing
facility is a unique family so think about joining
this family and apply for a position at the manufacturing facility today
one of the benefits of working here at Lawrence Livermore National Lab
is one is the people you have a lot of smart people
as I mentioned we work in teams. We are always learning from each other. We're
always challenging the next generation. The next thing whatever that may be.
How do we become better but it is very much a family atmosphere.
You know we come to work. We do our job. We have a critical mission to the
national security for stockpile stewardship and
NNSA. It's a key part of what we do.
The apprentices go to all the different areas. They get to learn all the
different techniques. That doesn't happen everywhere. Most
places have certain technologies you get sat in front of.
You get flexibility of moving between areas and shops
and we're not a production facility we do our thing we figure it out and then
we move on to the next thing and when we get to see the results of
what happened at the end and how it impacts
the nation and national security that's a big deal
for a lot of people that work here.