Leader Under 40: Jason Stoddard

Lead Controls Engineer, Michigan Custom Machines Inc. – AS Electrical Engineering, Mott Community College

Control Engineering Staff

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Jason Stoddard, 28

Lead Controls Engineer, Michigan Custom Machines Inc., www.michigancustommachines.com

Novi, Mich.

Academics

AS Electrical Engineering, Mott Community College

Achievements

“In my time at Michigan Custom Machines I have been fortunate enough to write a lot of code. I am currently directing the standard for which all PLC code is being written at MCM, as well as directing the standard for our HMI software package. I have created the standard code that we use in our robotics processes as well. I strive for excellence and simplicity in my code and control process. Keeping it simple, modular, and reusable is always the goal. Then more engineers will want to use it.”

Non-work-related activity

Stoddard enjoys spending time with family and motorcycling, as a source of relaxation.

Engineering-related activity

“I recently designed a back rest/luggage rack for my father-in-law's motorcycle, and then made it. There wasn't an off-the-shelf model available for his bike, so we needed to make one. I am also in the process of putting together a “smart-home” system based on an A-B ControlLogix PLC. I am prototyping a web-based HMI platform that will run on iPhones and Android-based tablets and phones, and this seems like a simple, small application to start with.”

Interesting details

“I am the youngest employee at MCM. I was 22 years old when I started working here.”

Began interest

“I was a software engineer that was looking for something more. Seeing things move and actually ‘creating’ something was much more appealing than writing queries to databases. Now doing controls engineering, I get to do everything from robots to hydraulic controls, and get to play with some cool things while doing it. It is honestly the best job. I can't see how anyone wouldn't want to do it.”

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