By SCOTT BAUGHMANLedger Staff Writerscottb@gaffneyledger.com

Matt Stone maintenance mechanic Butch Fowler takes measurements for a new project at the company’s Gaffney facility. Gaffney’s Butch Fowler tells people he has worked for the Matt Stone facility in Cherokee County since day one. But actually, he’s been working there since before day one.

“I was working with one of the contractors that built this place,” he explained during a sweltering tour of the factory adjacent to Sunny Slope Farms. “Basically, when it was done, the contractor moved on and I stayed here.”

Fowler now spends his days making sure the building he put up avoids downtime.

“I’m the maintenance mechanic for Matt Stone,” he said. “I do a lot of preventative work around here and I’m proud to say we have very little time lost on the line. Really, there are only a few problems that can cause the line to break down to the point that operations have to stop. We can’t run without the slip bucket or the pallet buffer.”

And although his main duty is to keep the machinery in working order and do prevention, Fowler has learned, from vendors and others in the industry, how to fix some problems even if they do crop up.

“Probably the worst problem we ever had was when the slip bucket fell,” he said. The large bucket that loads materials into the building sized mixing machine to make the brick mixture is integral to the operation.

“It fell and went all the way down the track, crashing into the floor,” Fowler said. “Now, that thing weighs about 6,000 pounds so it was huge. We had to rebuild the whole thing.”

The loss of the bucket equated to some downtime, but Adam Benefiel, the company’s site manager in Gaffney, said they recovered well.

“We plan to have some downtime,” Benefiel clarified. “Realistically, you have to be prepared for some problems.

Our goal is only to have about 10 percent downtime.”

A native of Cowpens, Fowler has spent most of his life in Gaffney. He and his wife Susan have one daughter.

“I graduated high school in Cowpens, but really I’ve spent my life in Gaffney,” he said. “Susan is a stay at home mom here.”

The job hasn’t really lent itself to time for training, but Fowler has picked up most of what he knows through real world experiences.

“That’s probably the thing I like most about this job,” he said. “You never really know what’s going to happen next. I learn a lot everyday and it’s never boring.”

Fowler went on to explain how he’d become accustomed to the loud noises, and the rhythmic slamming sound of the large machine spitting out bricks and forming the mixture into specific patterned products.

“To be honest, after all these years the only time I’m worried is when the machine isn’t making noise,” he laughed. “I love this job and this company.

I plan on retiring here.”