Tommy Simmons

Tommy Simmons, an assembly mechanic at Fowler Products Co.Inc., pre-tests a high speed automatic capper machine before the customer accepts the product on Wednesday afternoon.This particular machine can cap the product at 750 bottles per minute. Cameron Swartz/Staff

In the last 18 months, the news from Northeast Georgia's manufacturing and production sector has been, well, awful.
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For employees like Tommy Simmons, an assembly mechanic, versatility spells job security.Employed at the company for 27 years, he's worked positions ranging from parts to electrical to field service, and now back to assembly.By cross-training, Simmons and other employees were able to keep busy even as the industry bled jobs."The versatility that I and a number of other employees here have," he said, "has probably been one of our biggest advantages."Walking through part of the company's 76,000-square-foot facility, engineers put the finishing touches on a large bottle-capping machine while electrical workers attach a labyrinth of wiring to panels that will control the machine's every move and machinists shape metals to be joined by welders.The company makes the lion's share of the components used to manufacture the bottle-capping machines, from the smallest components, up to gears, metal panels and large steel rails.