In his five years in the industry, Joshua Hinkemeyer has demonstrated an incredible appetite to learn. This appetite began when Joshua earned his bachelor's degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering (and a certificate in lean Six Sigma) from Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois, and has continued with the completion of management courses. Prior to working with Ipsen, Joshua spent a decade in the automotive industry learning the importance of robust systems in all phases of the manufacturing process. At Ipsen, he learns by taking heat treatment/metallurgical classes and by being under the guidance of the Ipsen Chief Engineer, Craig Moller.

As engineering manager, Joshua focuses on collaborative learning. His main goal is to continually improve the design of vacuum furnaces; this requires a significant amount of collaboration between teams. To improve the design, he uses A3 reporting and other lean manufacturing tools to better understand the root cause of problems that arise during manufacturing and in the field. Joshua works very hard to bring all the engineering disciplines together during the design process and ensures all design reviews are done with the full spectrum of engineering present (mechanical, electrical, and software engineering) to encourage teamwork and reduce design errors. Under Joshua’s supervision, his team of 18–20 engineers strives for a zero defect design phase.

Joshua also collaborates with clients. He has pushed for increased standardization in component selection to decrease lead times and better support clients. To achieve this support, Joshua worked closely between the sales team and the software engineers to ensure that the Ipsen furnace control platform not only complies with industry standards, but also provides customers with the data and functionality they need to run their businesses successfully. Joshua believes his contribution to the heat treating industry has been to enable Ipsen to provide heat treating equipment to clients.

Nominated by: Ipsen