2021 Engineering Leader Under 40: Kyle Finkbeinier, 39
Sr. Electrical Engineer, Dart Container Corp., Mason, MI, United States, BS Electrical Engineering, Michigan State University
Kyle Finkbeinier, 39
Sr. Electrical Engineer
Dart Container Corp.
Mason, MI, United States
BS Electrical Engineering, Michigan State University
Why should this person be recognized for this award?
Kyle is a bright, hardworking, confident, and well received person by his peers and team members across the organization. Kyle strengths including Program Logic Control (PLC) programming, motion control, hardware design, HMI screen development, project lead, commissioning, UL inspection requirements, and communication.
Achievements, Advancement & Career-related Industry Contributions
Kyle started his career at Spartan Motor as an Associate Electrical Engineer. Dart Container Corporation hired Kyle as an Electrical Engineer and after successfully completed several projects, gaining knowledge, and improving his skills, promoted him to Senior Electrical Engineer. Kyle has successfully completed several projects including upgrading the obsolete controls package on different machine with modern controls. These projects improved machine safety, quality of the product produced, machine throughput and reduced machine downtime. While at Dart, Kyle has worked on R&D projects that help Dart achieve a Technical Competitive Advantage over our competitors. Kyle is currently the Controls lead on a team developing Dart’s next generation of machines to produce plates.
Non-work-related Activities & Hobbies
Kyle enjoys the challenges of making homemade craft beer, with the fruit of his labor being the best part. He has made different IPS, Hefeweizen and currently is brewing a cream ale. Kyle’s son helps his dad in the process by running the caper which a good opportunity to spend time together. Kyle’s favor beer style is IPA.
Interesting Details
- Kyle grew-up across the street from his uncle’s farm where he worked doing the typical farm chores and raised pigs for 4H. Kyle started raising pigs when was 10 and continued until age 15.
- He would take the pigs to the 4H fair where he showed them, and they were sold at auction. Kyle saved the money earned from the auctions and put it towards his tuition at Michigan State. This taught him how to work hard, care for animals, and care for the land. I found it interested that Kyle saved the money for about a decade before he spent it.
Why did they choose this career?
“My wife says it is because I like to take things apart, but I attribute it to when I was 18/19 years old and spent my summers working at a cinder block manufacturer in Flint, MI. I spent all day sorting blocks for quality in 9 x 9 block cubes, ranging from 8- to 12-inch cinder blocks. During those summers I spent a lot of time in thought while stacking those cubes realizing I wanted to create things intricate and sophisticated, things that would challenge me to solve problems. I have enjoyed solving problems since.”
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