Meet the Team: John Hockemeyer

Given the experience of the team at Vantage Plastics we frequently have the chance to introduce people with long standing careers. John Hockemeyer is such an individual. John will be celebrating forty years in the thermoforming plastics industry this May on the 21^st. John has firsthand experience from performing several roles during his career. He started as a machine operator at another thermoforming company forming parts. He then served as a lift truck operator before he started work on a machine dedicated to forming samples for launching new products. In this role he learned to trouble shoot so he could trace issues back to root causes. With this experiential background he then began building prototype tooling. After building prototypes for about eight years John took a position doing the same at the newly formed company called Contour Engineering which is a sister company to Vantage Plastics. He spent 23 years in that role. John has now been at Vantage Plastics for six years and serves as an Innovation Technologist. John says he has enjoyed his career and wants to recognize Kurt Willoughby and Paul Aultman for giving him the opportunity back in the day when both companies were just starting out.

When John began building prototype tooling it was prior to CNC machines which now cut tooling based on CAD models. John was a gifted craftsman who built tools based on 2-D drawings along with the actual automotive parts. Using hand tools such as drills, band saws, table saws, skill saws, compasses, protractors, squares, and sanding equipment he would carefully sculpt the wood prototype tools to perfectly fit the parts they were to contain. Aluminum production tools would then be cast from the. I lament not having some of these hand sculpted tools to use as wall displays as I consider them as works of art to be admired. John estimates he has built over 1,000 prototype tools during his career.

John’s father described his sons as “problem solvers”, as they all seemed to have a knack for figuring things out. John is no exception as he has always been fascinated by how stuff works. He says, “My brain embraces the mechanical and structural. When I was building prototypes, it eventually became intuitive and second nature.” When asked what he likes about working at Vantage Plastics John says, “I love this business because there are so many opportunities for improvement. I find problem solving to be very fascinating and rewarding. I get the biggest thrill out of fixing something and making somebody happy as a result.” We frequently hear John sharing new ideas as a result of him walking through the factory, seeing something, and having a new idea dawn to him.

Outside of work John lives in the Sanford area, has seven siblings, and his mother who lives in Bay City. In his spare time, he enjoys hunting, fishing and camping all of which he does with friends and family. John says he likes meeting new people and getting exposed to a wide array of thoughts and ideas. He leverages his extracurricular activities to do so.

We appreciate having John on our team and look forward to seeing his continued insightful contributions helping us move forward with continual improvement. As a member of the Team John Hockemeyer is clearly helping us fulfill the Vantage Plastics’ Mission of Forming Better Lives, Forming Solutions, and Forming Sustainable Futures.