Batla Engineering Company

D-136 in Sector 10 is where we spend our days. It is an engineering shop, so there is always the smell of welding and the sound of grinding in the air. We do a lot of fabrication work here. Sometimes it is small brackets, and other times it is much larger frames that take up half the workshop floor. We have to be careful with the space we have. You learn to step over cables and around scrap metal without really thinking about it after a week on the job. The guys here aren't much for talking while they work because of the earplugs and the masks, but we catch up during the breaks. We get a lot of drawings brought in by people who need something specific made, and we sit down at the bench to figure out the best way to cut and join the pieces. It isn't always perfect on the first try, so there is a bit of trial and error involved in getting the fit just right. The walls are lined with tools that have been there for years, some of them looking pretty old but they still work better than the new stuff. It is hard work, and your back usually aches by five o'clock, but there is something decent about seeing a pile of raw steel turned into something useful for someone.