St.Tiernan's College ¦ Crossmolina, Co. Mayo 096-31236

On the 28th of January we went to visit McHale’s Engineering. In our trip to McHale’s Engineering factory we learned about many different jobs that are needed to be done in a factory. Firstly, when we arrived we visited a hall which contained a lot of finished machinery made by McHale’s. The biggest was the Fusion 2 which is a baler & wrapper all in one. This cost over €70,000 to buy and is their most popular product made. Luckily for us McHale’s produce all year round, meaning we would get to see it again in the production line. We were given a safety brief then the tour began. Firstly we seen a large laser cutter which was used to cut many different parts for the machinery this is use because it is very accurate. Next we saw many workers welding various parts of the machines. This is good to see as we will need welding for our leaving cert projects. There are many different chambers in the factory to clean the parts before feeding them through the painting and production line. The last stage occurs at the end of the production line, where machines are tested intensively to see whether they are up to standard. Throughout the day we learned a lot about the factory, where they exports to its employment numbers and the history of the factory. At the end the tour guide gave use a pen and a cap which we were very grate full of.

By: Séán Jordan, Tommie Kelly, Kevin Flynn