By Public Affairs Office Staff
October 5, 2023
The United States Mint production facilities rely heavily on advanced machinery to make our nation’s coins. Whether machines are recent innovations or old favorites, Mint employees’ expertise helps keep production on track. Meet some of these skilled technicians and learn how they serve an important role at the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia.
Engineering technicians at the Philadelphia Mint help keep the robotic packaging line working efficiently. AJ Neider is one of those technicians. He maintains a eight robots that package the Mint’s annual uncirculated sets, fixing both mechanical and programmatic issues.
“We have automated lines that produce our collectible sets annually, so that means I process materials and maintain the robotics” so the machines operate as intended. With the help of AJ and these robots, the Philadelphia Mint produced over 270,000 uncirculated sets in 2022. He also supports the Mint with packaging modernizations for future products. Naturally, AJ’s favorite coins are the uncirculated annual set. “I’ve been collecting them because I’ve had hands on every one of them since 2007.”
In addition to engineering technicians, production machinery mechanics work to keep the Mint’s machines running smoothly. Dozens of mechanics work in the Production Maintenance Division, with many who specifically work on coin presses.
Anthony Teagle is one of those mechanics. He has been at the Mint for nearly 30 years and specializes in coin presses. “My primary job is to make sure the presses are operating at the highest efficiency so that we can produce the best coins ever.”
Anthony also assists with other machine maintenance, and he does so with joy and a sense of pride. He credits the unique atmosphere and variety of the job for his long career. “There’s always something interesting going on, and the job is never boring. [The Mint] allows you to be who you are as long as it’s safe.” Anthony brings joy to his colleagues through his festive hats. “It brings a little bit of levity, gives people a reason to smile even if they have a bad day.”
Like Anthony, Taylor Goldsmith loves her job as a mechanic. She credits her co-workers for creating a great work atmosphere. “It’s a great group of people, they’re all fantastic!”
Taylor performs scheduled preventative maintenance checks on various machines on the production floor. As a part of that, she fixes components in each of the machines to keep them operating effectively.
These checks are important for the machines’ maintenance and overall production efficiency. Ensuring the machines function properly is also critical to keeping workers safe, which is a top priority for the Philadelphia Mint.
Taylor’s team is assigned to tasks throughout the production floor based on availability, training, and expertise. “Anything that comes in that’s broken or needs to be troubleshooted, we go out as a team to fix it.”
Thanks to these talented employees, and many others, the Mint keeps coin production running smoothly 24 hours a day for five days per week, as well as during occasional weekend overtime production. In 2022, the Philadelphia Mint produced over 6.7 billion coins for Americans to use every day.
See more Inside the Mint articles.