30 Under 30 Class of 2021: Moldmakers

MGS Mfg. Group (Germantown, Wisconsin)

Jalen Weyker, Journeyman Toolmaker

Jalen came to MGS in 2014 while still in technical school. He worked after school in the graphite cutting cell, wire drilling cell and CNC milling department. He excelled in each position and was able to pass down his knowledge to his younger co-workers.

Jalen started his apprenticeship in 2016 under the lead toolmaker’s guidance. As an apprentice, he was extremely eager to learn and had a positive attitude. Within the first couple of years of his apprenticeship, his leadership role started to blossom, and he became one of our apprenticeship group leaders.

As his apprenticeship continued, Jalen gained the team’s respect with his work ethic and trade knowledge. He now builds his tools, including high-end multi-cavity tools, unscrewing tools and several two-shot tools.

Jalen became a journeyman toolmaker after finishing his apprenticeship in March 2020. Since then, he has continued to hone his skills as a toolmaker and leader. He is an asset to MGS, and he has a bright future ahead.

Superior Tooling Inc. (Wake Forest, North Carolina)

Ben Johnson, Journeyman Moldmaker

Ben completed his apprenticeship at Superior Tooling in 2019 as one of the original inductees into the NCTAP apprenticeship program that began in 2015. He chose Superior Tooling due to the wide range of skills and career opportunities as well as its family-oriented, small business culture.

He has been most intrigued and challenged by the skills required to build an injection mold. Ben quickly moved through his training and became a resource for training and knowledge as well as a participant in planning discussions, even as an apprentice. He exhibited mature communication skills and was respected as a model apprentice for those following in his footsteps.

Ben enjoys mentoring apprentices with whom he freely shares his knowledge. He has accompanied recruitment teams to area high schools, harvesting the next class of apprentices. Ben also worked the Superior Tooling exhibit booth at Amerimold while an apprentice.

He is capable of designing and machining complex electrodes, reverse engineering, programming and operating three-, four- and five-axis mills, as well as multiple sinker and wire EDMs and CMMs. He also manages our ISO 9001 calibration records and participates in internal and external ISO audits.

Ben aspires to further his knowledge in tool design and hard milling programming. He has shown interest in the management side of the business as well as customer-facing activities, and tasks involving purchasing and quoting. He is only in his sixth year in this trade, but the team views him as a valuable resource.

Matrix Plastic Products Inc. (Wood Dale, Illinois)

John Ziegenhorn, Moldmaker

John is a third-generation moldmaker. His grandfather and uncles started the business in 1978, and his father is the chief financial officer (CFO). While John follows in their footsteps, his career path affords him a unique perspective.

When he was 16, John started cleaning machines, performing shop maintenance and learning the basics of workpiece setups. An Eagle Scout, John is naturally a self-starter and hard worker who enthusiastically attacks any project. During his college years, he worked in the molding department and was involved with everything from material handling and inventory, to mold setups and automation.

As a chemistry major, John was very interested to learn about the injection molding process and the behaviors of different materials from the process engineers. After graduating with his Bachelor of Science degree from Bradley University, he took on additional responsibilities, making himself more valuable on the production floor.

John completed systematic molding and processing courses with RJG (Traverse City, Michigan) and Sodick (San Jose, California) as he stepped into a supervisory role. He quickly became instrumental in setting up production runs and creating operator work instructions to implement a new enterprise resouce planning (ERP) system.

John also learned how to troubleshoot molds from the tooling engineers and mold designers. Watching them diagnose tooling issues inspired him to be part of those solutions too. He then chose to complete a formal moldmaking apprenticeship and graduated from TMA’s three-year program.

John is a leader by example. He trains our tooling apprentices and interns on preventative maintenance (PM), repairs and safety. He takes great pride in actively promoting the trade with high school students, participating in local career fairs and association events and helping host field trips to our facility.

He is our laser welding expert. John also researches and purchases new equipment, never says “no” to a challenge and never misses the opportunity to keep learning from his mentors.

Engineered Medical Systems (Indianapolis Indiana)

Fred Boyer Jr., Moldmaker

Seven years ago, Fred came into moldmaking with very little shop experience. However, his many hours of schooling and shop training along with his attitude and work ethic have given the company confidence that he can run the tool room in absence of the tool room manager.

Fred is reliable and always looking to improve and produce quality tooling and repairs. He also embraces technology. From sweeping floors to running the EDMs, CNC mills and welding equipment to purchasing, delegating work, managing the production floor, Fred is truly appreciated. At 30 years old, he is truly on his game.

MMD Medical (Brooklyn Park, Minnesota)

Daniel Schuler, Mold Builder

Daniel’s can-do attitude, solid mechanical aptitude and exceptional expertise and skills for his level make him a promising young mold builder. He is a strong contributor to the high-performing team at MMD Medical.

Operational excellence drives our business, where we are tenacious in discovering the absolute best, most cost-effective and innovative solutions for the medical device industry. Daniel has repeatedly proven that he is more than capable of helping us meet the critical technical demands in the Class II and Class III medical device markets.

Drawn to mold building and machining because of the variety of work, the hands-on nature and the challenge of figuring things out, Daniel graduated from Dunwoody College of Technology in 2015 as a member of the Dean’s List with a degree in machine tool technology.

Before MMD Medical, Daniel honed his craft as a general machinist working with multiple machines, inspecting products using GD&T, running CNC mills and machining components.

When he joined MMD Medical as a machinist six years ago, Daniel exhibited an outstanding work ethic and knowledge of machining and CAM programming. Interested in applying his skill set to other business areas, he applied to the mold building team when a position became available. He quickly progressed from a beginner to a valuable team member.

We knew Daniel would bring valuable contributions to the mold building team because of his background at the company, his proven skills and ability, his demonstrated mechanical aptitude and his machine trades certification. Daniel has grown from apprentice to Level 1 mold builder to his current role as a Level 2 mold builder.

Today, Daniel works in multiple areas of the shop floor. His many responsibilities include building and repairing new molds for the medical industry, performing revision modifications and conducting continuous improvement to existing molds. Some of his specialties are high-speed milling final cavity detail, cutting electrodes, final grinding, assembly and PMs of our existing fleet of medical molds.

Along with his day-to-day responsibilities, he has taken the lead on several new mold builds and built his first tool on his own last year. Daniel is a positive example to his peers because he continues to learn and expand his capabilities. Since toolmaking is a craft requiring robust technical skills, he elected to attend a three-day training at MoldTrax (Ashland, Ohio) in 2019 to earn a certificate in mold maintenance and repair to expand his knowledge.

As his career as a mold builder continues to advance, we are confident Daniel’s ambition, dedication and expertise will propel him on his journey of becoming a Level 3 mold builder and beyond.

Valeo (Seymour, Indiana)

Mason Day, Plastic Toolmaker

Mason is a talented, motivated young man with a desire and willingness to become a very good moldmaker. He has completed a two-year associate program and a four-year apprenticeship with Valeo.

Mason is eager to learn and works well with senior-level moldmakers. He is continuing his education to earn his degree and become a tooling engineer. Working in the automotive lighting industry has taught Mason critical thinking and the value of working smart, fast and efficiently.

Mason works very well on a team and independently. He is working an off-shift, so he must be versatile and excel at time management to complete the tasks at hand.

KTM Industries (Richfield, Wisconsin)

Johnathon Ohser, Toolmaker

Johnathon graduated from Moraine Park Technical College and completed his MoldMaker Apprenticeship. He has packed a great deal of experience in a short amount of time by working within various production environments, including machine assembly, inventory management, CNC programming and setup, scheduling, project management and toolmaking.

Jonathon makes it a point to engage with senior team members, receiving invaluable mentoring and practical advice. Executive leadership is pleased to see that he accepts responsibility and accountability while showing consistent progress and aptitude with each task he undertakes.

Customers appreciate Jonathon’s swift progress as a problem-solver for both build and repair projects. He is also concentrating on his design and engineering development and is a significant contributor to design reviews and build strategies.

M&M Tool and Mold (Green Bay, Wisconsin)

Kyle Paternoster, Toolmaker

Kyle joined the M&M Tool team in January 2013 as a journeyman apprentice, which he completed in March 2018. Since becoming a journeyman, Kyle has been more than willing to step up to any challenge that he is presented with, and is currently the team leader for one of our internal build teams.

As a team leader, he shoulders additional responsibilities, including shop input on all projects assigned to his team, scheduling work through support departments and negotiating with other team leaders to alleviate potential workflow bottlenecks. He also monitors all team projects regarding purchased components, services and shop hours invested in the build versus estimated hours.

Kyle has proven to be quite creative in his approach to moldmaking. He is not afraid to propose new manufacturing methods to become more efficient, which are sometimes incorporated into the company’s general build culture.

Other times, the ideas do not work. Either way, the team learns through Kyle’s initiative—his idea introduces a new technology or process or sometimes validates the original process. It’s often the failures that prove most valuable, as they can open the door to additional possibilities for process improvement. Once the creative approach has been validated to be a better method, Kyle is always available to share the lesson learned with others and explain why.

Metro Mold & Design (Rogers, Minnesota)

Nebyou Demessie, Toolmaker

Since joining Metro Mold & Design in 2016, Nebyou has spent time at both the medical and industrial facilities. He has worked as a precision machinist, thermoplastics setup technician, and now a full-time apprentice in our industrial facility toolroom.

Nebyou is quickly gaining the knowledge necessary to become a master toolmaker while continuing to service MMD and its customers with machine setup, process flow, tool maintenance and troubleshooting.

Nebyou is a highly dedicated employee who leverages his cross-training to assist multiple parts of the organization. He loves a challenge and can be counted on to handle them individually with minimal supervision and direction. Nebyou works hand-in-hand with manufacturing and toolroom leadership to improve processes and then demonstrates great leadership while implementing these processes to meeting customer deadlines and expectations.

The sky is the limit for Nebyou as his dedication and passion for the industry prove invaluable to MMD and customers.

MGS Mfg. Group (Germantown, Wisconsin)

Jake Wade, Toolmaker

Jake has been a member of the MGS family since 2012. He was the first employee to participate in the “School to Work” program. Jake would come to work right from school every afternoon and work in the electrode and wire departments, where he maintained electrodes and cleaned wired components.

During the summer after he graduated from high school, Jake learned how to run the electrode-cutting cell and obtained some experience in the hard-cutting cell. During his first year in tech school, Jake worked at MGS at night, doing setups and running the electrode and hard-cutting cells. In his second year of tech school, he worked with toolmakers on the drill press and basic components on the Bridgeport machine. During that time, Jake took the initiative to find ways to improve his skills.

Jake began his tool & die apprenticeship under the lead toolmaker’s mentorship in 2016. During his apprenticeship, he and his mentor worked on several complex tools, and Jake always portrayed a positive attitude. He completed his apprenticeship earning the journeyman toolmaker title in 2019. Since then, he has led and built many complex tools, from rotating cube molds to two-shot indexing molds.

Today, Jake continues to find ways to better himself and his craft as a toolmaker. He is a team player driven to positively impact his colleagues and customers, and the overall industry. Jake is an important influence and role model for training new, young talent for the company. He is a big part of MGS, and he continues to grow and be a leader in the tooling industry.

Kingson Mold and Machine (Brea, California)

Austin Ramos, Junior Moldmaker

Austin is one-of-a-kind. He has been a huge asset to the Kingson Mold family ever since we recruited him back in 2015 while working at a grocery store. Austin was looking for a career, and despite his lack of experience in manufacturing, his attitude and willingness to learn matched what we were looking for in an apprentice.

During Austin’s apprenticeship, he demonstrated that he possessed the characteristics needed to be a successful moldmaker. He is a sponge when it comes to learning. He takes his job very seriously, yet can also be the life of the party. Austin takes ownership of every job he is assigned and any task thrown his way. He programs all of his jobs and manages three to four machines simultaneously. Over the past year, Austin started to project manage his molds and expanded his capabilities into finishing.

Austin is a true leader. His mindset to improve everything he touches has had a positive impact on the entire team. His shop floor colleagues look up to him and lean on him for advice daily. His organization and attention to detail leave little room for error.

Anytime you need something done, the team knows to go to Austin. He will make it happen.

Superior Tooling Inc. (Wake Forest, North Carolina)

Isaac Wier, Apprentice Moldmaker

Isaac is a breath of fresh air to the organization. He is now in the third year of his apprenticeship. However, he is already perceived as one of our “go-to” employees.

After Isaac’s summer internship, he was not offered an apprenticeship under the NCTAP program, but he was offered the opportunity to work part-time with the potential to be selected the following year. Isaac happily seized this opportunity. Anytime he was not in school (even on snow days), he would come into the shop to do whatever was permitted. He always did an excellent job, which cemented his future selection. The following year, he became an apprentice.

Isaac excelled in the coursework and on-the-job training. He quickly takes to whatever machine tool he is assigned and has an excellent sense of proper setup techniques, quality and accuracy. He has already demonstrated the ability to setup, operate and troubleshoot three-, four- and five-axis CNC mills, and program and operate three different CNC lathes, as well as coordinate-measuring machines (CMMs). He also calibrates measurement equipment.

Isaac is proficient in setup and operation of any of the manual equipment in the shop. The only equipment he cannot operate are the machine tools that he has not been introduced to yet. He really wants an opportunity in EDM, which is happening soon.

Isaac also assists with training younger apprentices and displays exceptional patience. He admits to learning new skills of his own during this training.

Isaac has a very positive attitude and truly enjoys his work, which is crucial to being successful in this trade. He has a magnetic personality and is respectful, trustworthy, accountable, confident and exhibits a very high level of integrity. He always has a smile on his face and when presented with an opportunity to learn a new skill, he is like a kid in a candy store. These attributes are just a few that set Isaac apart and are integral to plotting his course toward much higher levels of responsibility and leadership.

Westfall Technik (Wakefield, Michigan)

Anthony Fabbri, Moldmaker Apprentice

Anthony came to Westfall Technik (formerly Extreme Tool) as a young man with no machining or toolmaking experience but with the right amount of ambition and work ethic. His character and integrity set him apart. He is an all-around good person. Day in and day out, Anthony is a great example to those who work around him.

Very early on, it was evident that Anthony was a natural in the shop. He is a quick learner and never afraid to go the extra mile to make a project successful. Anthony is on track to complete his apprenticeship (8,000 hours of shop time with online schooling) this July, resulting in his journeyman card in moldmaking, die-cast and plastic molding from the United States Department of Labor (Washington, D.C.) as well as AMBA. Upon completion, Anthony will be well versed in all processes from mold design to mold sampling. As the time comes for Anthony to move onto the next department, leadership mentions that they want to keep him. Anthony has become a very important asset to the company.

Erwin Quarder (Grand Rapids, Michigan)

Nick Dupree, Toolmaker Apprentice

Nick started at Erwin Quarder four years ago as a production floor helper and then worked his way to the toolroom. He has experience with EDM, CNC machining, milling, grinding and laser welding. Nick has a special drive and can-do attitude while working in the toolroom.

He enjoys working with his co-workers, sharing his input and expressing his ideas to resolve issues. Nick also thinks outside the box when working through challenges for which traditional repair methods are not applicable.

He is not afraid to step up, go the extra mile, work late or come in early to ensure a repair or project is completed on time. Nick is an excellent role model for the next up-and-coming apprentices who will follow in his footsteps.

Wepco Plastics (Middlefield, Connecticut)

Jacob Arsenault, Moldmaker Apprentice

As a young professional in our apprenticeship program, Jacob has undoubtedly stepped up to the plate and excelled among his peers. He has filled a role at a young age (new high school graduate) that far exceeds the title of “apprentice.”

Jacob is very hands-on and adaptive. He contrives solutions to difficult problems, whether in day-to-day operations or more complex matters with machinery and/or tooling. His “street smarts” go along with his education in moldmaking, and he is willing to do anything and everything asked of him. His attitude shines in the shop, and he is far beyond his years when it comes to matters of respect, drive and willingness.

Jacob is referred to as “Little Denny,” which references a long-term, recently retired, first-ever employee and friend of Wepco Plastics. Denny’s shoes are hard to fill, and Jacob is learning to fill them with grace and grit.

Innovation Mold & Design (Germantown, Wisconsin)

Hannah Lautenschlaeger, Tool & Die Apprentice

Hannah is a student in a tool and die program at a local technical college and previously worked onsite at Innovation Mold & Design, mounting electrodes on a sinker EDM. She mentioned that her goal was to become a tool and die maker in the plastic injection mold building trade.

The team quickly noticed she was mechanically inclined, excelling with time management and eager to learn the trade. She then accepted the opportunity to enter the tool and die maker apprenticeship program in the wire EDM department at Innovation Mold & Design. Today, Hannah has transitioned into the full moldmaker apprenticeship program.

Hannah is a pleasure to work with and a true asset to the team. Her positive attitude, attention to detail and ambition for continuous improvement are perfect for the company’s environment, culture and colleagues. Hannah has a great future at Innovation Mold & Design, and the team feels blessed to have her as part of the company.