It’s a pleasure to introduce our teammate Kyler Jones, one of our Manufacturing Engineers. Kyler joined the Vantage team approximately four years ago as an engineering intern. After earning his Mechanical Engineering degree from Saginaw Valley State University, he joined the company full-time as a Process Engineer in 2024 and advanced to his current role as Manufacturing Engineer in 2025.
Kyler grew up in Midland, Michigan and attended Midland Christian School before continuing his education at Saginaw Valley State University. The letter “K” is popular in his family as his father’s name is Kyle, his mother is Kathy, sister is Kayleigh, and his wife’s name is Katie. He met Katie while attending SVSU where she was also in the Mechanical Engineering program. She currently works at the Hemlock Semiconductor facility.
When asked about choosing engineering as a career Kyler said, “I always loved taking things apart and putting them back together to see how they worked. Growing up I also enjoyed working a lot with my dad building different stuff.”
One of the things Kyler enjoys most about working within The Vantage Plastics Family of Companies is the opportunity to continually learn and expand his skills. As he explains, “It gives me an opportunity to keep learning, doing hands-on assembly, designing, fabricating, wiring, painting, programming, and getting involved with troubleshooting.”
Most recently, Kyler has been part of an internal automation team that successfully developed and launched a custom automated plastics welding cell. Originally, the company considered purchasing a solution from an outside automation provider but ultimately chose to develop the system internally. Kyler described how enjoyable it was to brainstorm ideas, work through challenges as a team, and watch the project come together. The project highlights the creativity, collaboration, and technical expertise that exist within the Vantage team and demonstrates our ability to solve complex manufacturing challenges from within.
Outside of work Kyler enjoys snowboarding in the winter and disc golf during the summer while Katie enjoys knitting and crocheting as time allows. However, he and Katie are now primarily focused on building a new house that they custom designed together.
They recently purchased a 21-acre piece of property that was mostly wooded. They have been busy preparing it and plan to break ground this August to start the building process. Given Kyler’s skills he plans to do most of the building himself along with help from Katie, friends, and family. He says he and Katie are very excited to get started on their future home.
When asked if there is anything unique that people may not know about him, or his family Kyler contemplated the question for a while and at first said he couldn’t think of anything. However, after some additional thought he said, “There is an interesting story about my family from my dad’s side of the family. My dad’s grandmother’s maiden name was “Sly” and her family had it’s own town named “Slyville”. While it no longer exists, it was in the vicinity on the line between Midland and Freeland Michigan.
Spending time with teammates and learning about the experiences that shape their lives is always meaningful and rewarding. Through his willingness to learn, innovate, and collaborate, Kyler has become an important contributor to The Vantage Plastics Family of Companies and the customers we serve. Whether developing automation solutions, supporting manufacturing improvements, or taking on ambitious projects outside of work, he exemplifies the curiosity, determination, and problem-solving mindset that help bring our mission of Forming Better Lives, Forming Solutions, and Forming Sustainable Futures to life.