2016 Engineering Leader Under 40: Mike Blenman, 37

Senior Project Engineer, RedViking, Plymouth, Mich.

By Erin Dunne, CFE Media September 15, 2016


Mike Blenman, 37

Senior Project Engineer; RedViking, Plymouth, Mich.
BS Interdisciplinary Studies, Wayne State University

Blenman started at RedViking doing plant floor PLC programming and decided to learn how to configure the upper end so that he could move his projects forward more quickly. Currently, Blenman doesn’t just handle the plant floor programming, but also the OPC layer and the network. He’s the consummate puzzle-solver for factory information systems (FIS). He understands FIS, plant floor PLCs, network configurations, the OPC layer (pushing it into a database), the logic engine to manipulate the data, plus all of the dissimilar, commercial off-the-shelf products for implementation, like Andon boards. He’s able to integrate multiple brands of controllers, networks, and PLCs to consolidate data for executive reporting. In the office, Blenman is also a teacher and mentor to the young engineers. Rather than instructing, he patiently guides them through questions, until they discover a solution on their own. In his spare time, Blenman enjoys solving the New York Times crossword puzzles. He has not missed a single day in several years.