Help Build Tucson

Arto Tucson · Now hiring the first crew

We are opening a new plant in the old Sam Levitz building at 36th Street and Palo Verde (map). We need hard workers who think with their hands. Start on the ground floor, help install the machines, run the first production, and move up as far as you want to go.

Apply now (about 5 minutes)

It started on a milk route.

In the late 1950s, Arto Alajian left Heliopolis, Egypt, and landed in Venice, California. He had grown up in his father's factory, where he learned to design shoes. Tile would come later.

It was a classic immigrant story: he went to aviation mechanic school at night, drove for Cookie Cream ice cream, and then ran an Ador milk route house to house, restaurant to restaurant, every morning across Venice.

In those years he met Irene Birkenbreiter, a muralist. He began making thin clay brick veneers to frame her murals. The frames found their own audience. He showed them along his milk route, sold them to the homes and restaurants he already visited, and came back later to install them himself.

1966 was the year the brick outpaced the milk, and ARTO became a company.

Sixty years later, ARTO is a materials works. At our home plant in Gardena, California, we work in clay and concrete—making handcrafted tile, brick, and pavers. Our work is on homes, restaurants, hotels, and public buildings across the country.

Now, we are expanding. This new Tucson property is 130,000 square feet on 8 acres, giving us the space to do it all. We are bringing our concrete works and clay works here, and we plan to add stone works. Glass and metals are on the list too, but as always, we take it one step at a time.

Read the full ARTO story

Why Tucson. Why now.

Tucson is our next chapter. We are building a plant from the floor up, and the first crew builds it with us. You set the tribal knowledge for everyone who comes after you.

Here is what the first few months look like:

Prep the machines. You start as an Artisan. Get the floor and the machines ready for install. Clean, stage, learn the layout.
Watch and help them go in. When the machine makers arrive to install and dial in the machines, you are right there next to them, helping and learning from the people who built them.
Become the first operators. You run the very first parts. Nobody who joins later will learn these machines the way the first crew does.

The goal for the first crew: go from Artisan to Artisan Operator (Apprentice) on all three machines by the end of the year, with a raise for each machine. Earned by showing you can run each machine safely, not by time.

The machines:

Automacad: a computer-controlled production line run by a PLC and a touchscreen.
Thermoforming: heats plastic sheet and vacuum-forms the molds we cast in.
Time Worn: a conveyor finishing machine with abrasive heads that gives stone and tile its aged look.

More roles are coming after these, including Customer Service, Glaze, Silk Screen, and Handpainters.

Who we are looking for

You show up on time, ready to work.
You work safe, every time.
You like figuring out why something does not work, and fixing it.
You are handy. Cars, trucks, bikes, robots, a school shop, your house. It all counts.
PLCs (the computers that run machines) are a big plus. If you have run a machine from a touchscreen or gone online with a PLC on a laptop, tell us. If you have not, but you want to learn, tell us that too.

We train on the job. The first crew gets the most training of anyone, because you go from install to first production. What I mean by “on-the-job training” is that we’ll be learning together. I'm Armen, one of the brothers that run the place, and I will be learning these machines right alongside you. That’s part of the offer: we’re learning together.

How you move up

Everyone starts on the floor. From there, your level shows exactly what you are good at, and every step up is a raise.

Artisan (A1 to A3): show up, work safe, learn the floor.
Artisan Operator: each machine has three levels. Apprentice runs it with someone watching. Journeyman runs it alone for a full day. Master schedules it, programs it and makes it better.
Master 1st Class: an Artisan Operator Master on two or more machines.
Artisan Tech (AT1 to AT3): keeps the machines running. Troubleshooting, maintenance, PLCs.
Artisan Lead: Pod Lead, Shift Lead, Site Operations Lead. You do not have to be an operator to lead. Good people leaders move up too.
Then Plant Manager and Site GM.

Levels stack. One person can be an Automacad Master, an Artisan Tech II and a Pod Lead at the same time, and get paid for all of it.

Some people will grow with ARTO for years. Some will use ARTO as a stepping stone to a better job. Both are a win for us.

Pay

$16.00 an hour to start.
$16.50 an hour, a permanent raise, once you prove the basics: you show up ready to work, you do the basics, and you work safe. Usually in week one or two.
By January: $21.50 an hour if you hit Apprentice on all three machines (Automacad, Thermoforming, Time Worn).
Pod Lead: $25.00 an hour if you step up to lead a shift of 2 to 5 people.
Hours: 40 hours a week (7:30 AM to 4:00 PM, Monday to Friday).
From there, Journeyman and Master levels are bigger raises.

How hiring works

Apply below. It takes about 5 minutes.
A short phone call.
An interview at the plant.
A paid working hour on a real PLC board. We hand you a task and see how you think.
We call your references, then make an offer.

Referred by someone you know? Put their name on the form.

Apply

Takes about 5 minutes. Best on a phone or a computer. If the form does not load, open it here.

ARTO · 3430 E 36th St, Tucson, AZ 85713 · Rustic Elegance Since 1966