Central Pennsylvania college graduates fill the Weldon ranks

 

Weldon is proud to be a top manufacturing employer in Central Pennsylvania, with much of our engineering staff coming from local colleges. In this month’s blog, we highlight some of those local graduates now working at Weldon to discuss their journey from school and their experiences here.

Q: How did you first hear about Weldon Solutions as an employer that could be a good fit for your training and skills?

A: Brian Dietz, Weldon application engineer who studied manufacturing engineering at Pennsylvania College of Technology and has been with Weldon for 16 years: I first heard about Weldon during a job fair at Penn Tech.

Chuck Dice, application engineer who studied machine tool technology at Pennsylvania College of Technology when it was still a community college and has been with Weldon for 37 years: My dad was chief engineer at Weldon.

Matt Campbell, electrical engineer who studied electrical engineering at York College of Pennsylvania and has been with Weldon for 4.5 years: I learned about Weldon through my college which works with local businesses to find co-ops and internships for their students.

 

Q: What made you want to work for Weldon?

A: Ben Cornbower, manager of grinder sales who studied manufacturing engineering technology at Pennsylvania College of Technology and has been with Weldon for 20 years: I started with Weldon as an applications engineer. It was a big step up from my previous programmer/supervisor position which was a very exciting change for me.

Anthony Bowlin, electrical engineer who studied electrical engineering at York College of Pennsylvania and has been with Weldon for five years: While in college, I was an intern for an industrial controls company based in Lancaster. Weldon was particularly intriguing because of the robotic automation work. In addition, Weldon is an employee-owned company and was more established in their respective industry than my previous employer.

Campbell: While working here as an intern, I really enjoyed what I was doing and collaborating with my coworkers.

 

Q: What has surprised you about working for Weldon which you didn’t know as a college student?

A: Cornbower: Back when I started, I wouldn’t have thought it was possible to be employed at the same place for 20 years, which speaks to the company’s loyalty to its employees and vice versa.

Dietz: Weldon works in tolerances of millionths of an inch. That’s a hard thing for someone just starting out to wrap their head around.

Bowlin: At my previous employers there were no employee events. Weldon has an activity committee that attempts to have one event per quarter. In addition, many of Weldon employees hang out outside of working hours to go mountain biking, play pool, or to see local concerts. I did not expect this level of community. Plus, at Weldon, we are not just numbered employees. We are a team that constantly communicates and helps one another.

Campbell: Being a good engineer is more than just solving problems. Communication with customers and coworkers is equally as important and can be more challenging.

 

Q: What challenges your skills and knowledge about working for Weldon?

A: Bowlin: Robotic automation can be used to help improve a variety of industries, so we are constantly exposed to new technologies, processes and parts. The automation industry is growing fast, meaning the standards and practices are also changing. Being that Weldon is a smaller

company, each employee tends to have multiple roles. For example, although I am an electrical engineer by title, I find myself being involved in new quotes, customer relations, customer service, purchasing, project management, and the typical electrical engineering tasks.

Dice: Every job requires substantial thought, design and testing. One thing that keeps me going is that every job is different.

Campbell: Being a small company means there are times where I could have two or three active projects and/or several service/support calls going on at the same time. This forces you to be organized and take notes so you can keep track of where you left off.

 

Q: What advice would you offer to college students who are considering working for Weldon?

Dice: Learn everything you can about FANUC robots and CNC controls.

Bowlin: Be prepared to be met with new challenges daily. When working for a company that is involved with machine

tools and custom robotic automation, you will constantly be working with customers to assist in their business ventures. You are often creating solutions new to that respective industry. No two solutions are truly alike, and you will find yourself in a state of constant learning. Also, be prepared to travel. It is our job to support our customers as quickly and efficiently as possible, and the travel is sporadic and inconsistent because it is driven by the customer’s need.

Cornbower: Don’t be turned off by the size since Weldon is smaller than some other machine tool builders. It is highly a rewarding place to work. You definitely won’t be doing the same thing every day.

Dietz: Learn as many different engineering disciplines as you can. It helps to have an understanding of everyone else’s job to do your job well.

Weldon encourages manufacturing and engineering college graduates from Central Pennsylvania and the surrounding areas to contact us to discuss your options for employment. We’re glad to talk about what a career path with Weldon could look like. Visit our employment page for upcoming opportunities: https://www.weldonsolutions.com/about/employment/