TSMA Manufacturing Career Dream Team

Melany Wolf is a Mechanical Design Engineer with Massman Automation Designs, LLC. Her interest in manufacturing started in fourth grade when she went on a field trip and engaged in a hands-on activity that required her to move a marble from point A to point B. After high school she applied for, and was accepted into, the “Imagineer” program with Disney. While intriguing, she decided to forego the opportunity with Disney and instead, earned a bachelor’s degree from NDSU.

Sam Ewald is a Design Engineer at Massman Automation Designs, LLC. Sam’s interest in manufacturing began with building Lego space ships as an eight-year-old child. His mother told him, “if you like building things, you should think about becoming an engineer.” Fast forward 15 years, and Sam says he is “still playing with Legos, but instead of building with Legos, I am designing the kits and instruction manuals for putting them together, figuratively speaking.” Sam holds a bachelor’s degree from NDSU.

Jimmy grew up playing with Legos and always knew he wanted to build things. In high school, he took a lot of metals classes—anything related to manufacturing. Jimmy says he “made poor choices in high school and ended up dropping out.” Jimmy earned a GED and went to college, but ended up dropping out of college, too. He learned CNC programming and other manufacturing skills on the job. He says that “working in manufacturing is a passion.” He works as a CNC Programmer at FORCE America in Alexandria, Minnesota.

Brittany Wing grew up in Alexandria, Minnesota and is a graduate of University of Wisconsin - Stout with a BFA in Graphic Design and Interactive Media. She values the different aspects manufacturing brings to her role as a marketing specialist at Vector Windows in Fergus Falls, Minnesota and says “One of the things I love about marketing in manufacturing is being a part of creating how the world sees and interacts with a product that can improve the quality of people’s lives. From the designing of the product packaging and displays, to going out on location for photoshoots of our finished product in homes.”

Jason Crannell is a Manufacturing Engineer at ITW Heartland. He grew up in the southwest desert racing dirt bikes. In high school, he excelled in the areas of math and physics, and always enjoyed working with his hands to solve mechanical problems. His interest in manufacturing stemmed from the constant maintenance and repair required to race motorcycles and the desire for better performing components; these factors drove him to pursue a career in engineering. Jason received a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. The career opportunities manufacturing provides has allowed him to live in several different states and work on a variety of different projects, including motorcycles, robotics, submarines, airplanes, and even spaceships!

Mitchel has been at Vector for almost four years and has worked on assembly and vinyl fab, and now serves as the Continuous Improvement Technician. Mitchel loves being able to work with a team of amazing individuals and accomplishing awesome things.