Meet Matt Henrich, Process Engineer

Matt Henrich is an understated guy whose favorite part of the workday is lunch but wonders why his desk doesn’t have a hammock so he can get a nap in too. He’s intelligent, thrives on autonomy and relies on his (engineering) instincts.  At GLE-Precision, we are excited to announce a new Process Engineer, Matt Henrich has joined our team.

 “Matt wears a lot of hats,” production supervisor Steve Tagget says. “As our process engineer, he finds ways to improve processes both in-house and through new machines that are out there and he has to justify the cost of a new machine. He’s a busy guy. He’s a smart kid. He’s been a great addition.”

More Work, Less Sleep

A mechanical engineer from Ohio, Matt came to GLE Precision in Michigan as a process engineer in 2017 to be closer to family. Matt juggles a variety of tasks: data crunching, analyzing parts per hour, implementing improvement and maintaining processes, investigating new equipment and making carefully measured decisions about what machines to recommend.

And he’s forever in motion, heading out to the shop floor to meet with supervisors, gathering information and data to figure out how to streamline processes and improve efficiencies.

“He’s pretty motivated and he’s always on the move. I work right next to him and I see him maybe three times a day at the most,” customer service quality coordinator Brian Taylor says. “He likes to have fun but he’s really intense about his work and likes to work.”

A big part of Matt’s role is finding and resolving issues in the process, figuring out and engineering new processes or solutions and proving out new machines and seeing how they fit in GLE’s shop. Sometimes those aspects come together when a new part comes across his desk and a customer asks GLE to run it through their machines.

“Then I have to figure it out with the guys on the floor to see if it’s a good fit and if it is a good fit, later on, go back to the customer and say, ‘Hey, we got that part, how did it turn out?’” Matt says. “‘Oh, it turned out great or we had some issue or we’re still having some issues.’ And try to work with them on how to resolve it.”

The Machine Shopper

Matt loves the challenge that comes with a custom precision machine shop, finding that one really great machine and shifting to something new all the time.

“I was more or less the mastermind behind finding our Swiss lathe and proving it out and getting it on the floor. Now we use it every day,” Matt says. “… I bounce around so much that when I get a task done, I feel excited that I’m on to the next challenge.”

It’s not all machine shopping. Ever adaptable, Matt bounces between tasks throughout the day. He might calculate data on how many pieces the shop produced in the past versus now, then look at new machinery, head out to the shop to check-in, analyze information that a coworker brought him, program a CNC machine or figure out why the efficiency of a process has changed over time.

“He recently reviewed a customer process where the efficiency had been depleting,” Brian says. “He sat here and crunched numbers for I don’t know how long. Then he sat down and had meetings with the teams that are building these parts. He effectively re-did how it works and now we’re achieving more efficiency than we had been. That’s a lot of what he works on, trends over the years.”

Matt hopes that he’s known for being thorough because he tries to go above and beyond to report out on those tasks.

At the end of the day, Matt goes home to his wife and three kids (one human, two canines) with another one on the way, and loves to bowl or golf when he gets a chance. (Also, his dogs howl along when anyone sings happy birthday.)