Wire rope slings are essential to industrial operations. The specialized techniques used in wire rope fabrication ensure that the massive lifting systems powering American industry remain safe, compliant, and operational through precise craftsmanship. But what does the day-to-day reality of a career in wire rope fabrication actually look like?

Wire rope sling fabricators are responsible for more than just mechanical assembly; they learn how to properly splice wire rope so that it meets the capacity specifications necessary for mission critical lifting across many industries. In this video, we go behind the scenes to follow the routine of a wire rope fabricator at Mazzella.

From the first shop preparation of the morning to understanding the difference between strength and technique required in sling fabrication. You’ll see the independence and discipline required to succeed in this trade. Whether you are exploring a new career path or managing a facility that relies on custom rigging, understanding the responsibilities and nuances of wire rope fabrication can help you see how essential these roles are for operations across many industries.

What You’ll Learn About Wire Rope Fabrication:

The Daily Routine: How a wire rope sling fabricator prepares for their day with shop organization and tool preparation.
Strategic Planning: Why staying ahead of heavy orders and managing reels is a primary benefit to maintaining shop workflow.
Mastering Technique: The reality of how technique and “the brain muscle” are more important than raw strength in wire rope fabrication.
The Power of Repetition: How building thimble and standard eyes through repetition leads to mastery of the trade.

Who This Behind-the-Scenes Look For:

Those looking to understand the specific responsibilities and career path of wire rope fabrication.
Anyone interested in manufacturing jobs or skilled trades careers.
Maintenance and Operations Leaders interested in the shop-level reality of how their rigging equipment is produced.
Facility Managers who want to better understand the process and preparation involved in creating high-quality wire rope slings.

If you are interested in starting a career in this field, you can apply to work in wire rope fabrication here.

Want To Purchase a Lifting Sling?

Need lifting slings for your next job? Explore a wide selection of slings designed for rigging and material handling applications.

Purchase lifting slings here.

Transcript

Being a Wire Rope Sling Fabricator

It’s a very nose to the grindstone job. It teaches you to be better with your hands ’cause your hands will hurt. Your arms will hurt. It’s physical. You learn a lot about who you actually are and how much drive you have. Wire rope will humble you, so be ready to be humbled. Come to work every day with a good attitude because this stuff will beat you up. I love the job. Love what I do. I’m Ryan Earney with Mazzella Companies. I am a rigger. Spent two and a half years over in the sling department, and I’ve spent time on the wire rope cut side. I jump back and forth wherever I’m needed.

Daily Planning and Shop Operations

I start my day with a cup of coffee, get the shop ready to go for the day. Go over, check my boards. So checking the boards is to see basically what the game plan for the day is. Responsibilities, it’s basically just, you know, keeping a level head. It’s easy to get flustered on the wire rope side.

Here’s kind of the game plan. I got a bunch of orders up here for half inch and three quarter. That quarter inch reel, I had it out. I could have picked it up and went and put it back, but I know I got quarter inch on that order. I got quarter on these braids here. So I know that I need that reel still. So if I put that up, that’s one more thing I gotta do. I gotta get on a forklift, go get it, bring it back. I know I need it, so why not just leave it out? The planning’s the biggest thing when it comes to how’s our day gonna look?

Learning Wire Rope Sling Fabrication

Yeah, you definitely need to get your reps. Like new guys, you will make thimble eyes all day long until you have it down pat. You will make standard eyes until you know it by heart. You know, we do a lot of things to build repetition. Repetition’s everything in the wire rope department. I started here, I actually needed a job really bad. My roommate worked over in the wire rope cut side. He got me the job here, and it’s been history ever since. I had no idea what any of this was. Zero experience. So I worked in insulation. I did, I insulated attics and crawlspaces. So I knew my way around tools and working hard and sweating. So I had a pretty good idea what I was getting myself into when I got here.

Wire rope is all technique. It’s not, it doesn’t come down to strength. It doesn’t come down to ah, how big and strong you are. It comes down to how you work the wire rope. It’s all in technique. You can sit there and muscle it all day, but wire rope, it’s always gonna win. You’re always gonna lose to wire rope, plain and simple. Plain and simple. You work the main group of muscles, but you work, you work the other muscles, like the brain muscle a lot too. It’s staying humble. Being strong and all that, it’ll get you so far. Everything’s technique around here.

Mazzella Culture and Career Growth

It’s definitely the people. That’s what keeps me coming in here every day is the group of people I surround myself around for eight hours a day. It’s good to enjoy the people you work with. That’s one of the huge things. And the learning portion. There’s a huge learning curve when it comes to wire rope. There’s always something new. There’s always some new technology coming out. There’s new types of, you know, hardware that they’re bringing out. It’s endless. You can go down rabbit holes of wire rope and just learn all types of stuff. Give it one more good one, and boom. Sweet, that’s an order done.

Advice for New Hires

What makes me proud to do my job, it’s just knowing that I did it right. For all the new hires, just be humble, be happy. Things will go your way. I promise.