Leader Under 40: Jason Stoddard

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

By Control Engineering Staff October 21, 2011

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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