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October is Manufacturing Appreciation Month. Over the past 30 years, the industry has evolved and the digital transformation has made new careers and new opportunities. To  explore some of the new roles, we’ve spotlighted different employees all month long. For the final week, we are featuring Luke Nagrant. We asked Luke a few questions to help people better understand a little more about his day-to-day work.

Q: Can you describe your role at Sure Controls? 

A: My role at Sure Controls is the repairs and configuration in house technician. Customers will send us nonfunctioning equipment and I will be required to evaluate the damages, estimate the repair cost, and perform the repairs. In addition, I do our in-house process controller configurations. When a customer orders a new controller, I will be the one to create the program for that controller, and test its functionality. I will also do this for all project configurations as well as in house projects.

Q: What is your favorite part of your job?

A: The best part of my job is getting to work with my team. We have a strong knowledge base, good work ethic, and desire to progress the areas of the company that we touch. But also, we have many similarities in our personal lives that tie together. We are not just co-workers during business hours, but we are also friends outside of these walls.

Q: What is your biggest challenge?

A: The biggest challenge of my job happens when two factors are met. One, a rush job is requested to meet customers production needs. And two, when a repair or programming is needed on a product or application that I have not worked with before.

When these two factors are met, it makes it difficult to expedite a job when I also need to learn how it works and what it needs to do. This also will push back other repairs and configurations that I have scheduled, and I must keep on top of these. Regardless of the stress during these situations, it gives a different type of satisfaction when I am able to get out the expedited repair or programing, while learning a new product or application, and give the customer a smile.

Q: Would you recommend your type of work to others? Why or Why not.

A: Yes, I would recommend my role to others if I felt they had similar interests in their career. I truly love my role as the repairs/configs technician. My team is great,  my boss is a fantastic leader, I am not micro-managed. I am trusted to make changes to the entire repairs process that I see beneficial, I supply a positive service to our customers, I work directly with our customers and I have always had pleasant experiences with them.

Another great benefit is the job is challenging yet incredibly satisfying. What I mean by this is, every repair is different, and it can be difficult to figure out what hardware or software is causing issues. But, once I diagnose it, repair it, and test it, it is satisfying to see my product working like when it was new.

Another thing that I enjoy about my job is that I learn a lot. I had next to zero knowledge of this industry when I started as an intern at Sure Controls. This roll puts me in front of every product that we sell and support and everything eventually fails and needs repairs. Because of this, and applying myself to learn, I have gained a much deeper knowledge of our products, processes, and core competencies. As a newer tech in the industry, I am very happy with how much knowledge I have gained, how far I have come, and I am excited to continue this trend.

Q: What is something people might not know about you?

A: Something that people may not know about me is I have always struggled with my weight. I was 300lbs at my heaviest and unhappy. In 2015 I decide that it was time to change that for my own mental health, physical health, and self-confidence. As of now, I have lost 120lbs and I have been sitting at a weight of 180lbs.

To accomplish this I had to change many things in my life. I changed my diet, I changed my sleep habits, I changed my water intake, and I began working out (lifting weights). These changes were difficult to make and keep, but like anything, they became standard practice in my life and like second nature to me.

I now am much more active in general, I feel much better, and I am healthier. I am very happy with the changes I made and goals I set to achieve. I continue to set new goals in this journey and will always work at them.

Thanks to Luke Nagrant for sharing his experiences and insights! Find out more about Sure Controls and our open positions. Have questions? Contact us here.