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>> My name is Katie Lynn Ellis.

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And I am a metal fabrication and
welding apprentice for Quad Graphics.

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I build things.

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We take prints from the companies or we go out
and measure things up and we build all kinds

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of different things that go into
the plants: catwalks, bumper guards,

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different types of safety guards, just
about anything you can think of, we build.

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And a lot of our stuff goes into our
plants right in West Allis, Sussex,

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Pewaukee, and all over the country.

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I work with all kinds of
different gauges of steel, plate,

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sheet metal, angle irons, box tubes.

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A lot of things can either be plasma
cut or they come in big sheets or sticks

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and then we cut them down
to size per the prints.

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And then we make them into
what we need them to be.

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You basically take your two
pieces of metal, fit them up,

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clean them up, and you use a welding gun.

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And you are going to be basically
laying an electrode

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into the two pieces of metal
to fuse them together.

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First thing you have to do is look at
the print and decipher what you're making

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and what each component is, what items are.

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You look at it bill of materials
or if you don't have one,

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you have to make your own bill of materials.

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And you go and you collect what you need.

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You figure out how you're going to fabricate it.

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So a lot of times it's figuring out how
to fit it up in the best way possible.

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We have fit up tables that are really
nice where I work so it makes fit

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up a lot easier and then you start building.

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You start to tack things together,
maneuver where you need to maneuver it

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and then weld everything, finish everything.

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The nice thing about my job
is it can change everyday.

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Some days I can be working on a very
small project and maybe it's 100 pieces.

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And the next day, once that job is -- or once
that job is done, I could get an order for,

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you know, a quantity of two
eight-foot bumper guards.

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So it's always something different.