Meet Nathan Ostroski

It is with upmost pleasure to introduce Nathan Ostroski, who is the Lead Designer at Vantage Plastics. He lives in Standish with his wife, Jessica, who also does design work for the company when needed. Nathan actually first met Jessica when he was two years old, and she was just a baby. The picture accompanying this article shows his father-in-law holding both of them at that age. While he had known her for most of his life, one day, love-struck, and as he says, “I came, I saw, and I conquered.” This is when he showed up at her work with flowers and asked her out on a date. As one thing led to another, it eventually resulted in marriage. While they had planned to travel and volunteer after marriage, that plan did a one-eighty as they are now blessed with a daughter, Amelia, age three and a half, and a son, Oliver, who will turn one next month. Outside of work Nathan sees family as his top priority and also still has a strong commitment to his faith community and volunteerism. He particularly likes having bible discussions with people looking for answers to life’s big questions.

Nathan has now been with Vantage Plastics for roughly sixteen years. He started as a design intern right out of high school while he was completing an engineering drafting program offered through the Bay-Arenac ISD. The program was structured to offer lots of real-world training connecting students with workplace environments during the two-year program. Nathan was the first to ask for an internship, which was when his connection to Vantage Plastics began. After starting his internship, he was given a broad exposure to operations as he worked on the production floor running a machine and also working in the assembly area. This still informs many of his approaches to the front-end design process, as he knows how design can affect those areas. 

As Nathan has been here, he has become formidable in his design experience and has developed some very innovative and award-winning designs. Nathan always strives to be at the cutting edge of what SolidWorks is capable of doing, as it serves as our primary design software.  One of his designs was recently recognized for a Gold Award by The Society of Plastics Engineers. His approach to design is always to think about what will provide the customer with the very best solution while keeping our production and assembly teams in mind. In many cases, he has designed innovative approaches that may not have been thought about as a customer’s case arrives in-house. In many of these cases, the designs are providing customers with millions of dollars in savings over the lifetime of their programs. Since products made at Vantage Plastics are reusable and recyclable, our design team is also providing environmentally sustainable solutions. As the Lead Designer, Nathan continues to develop additional proprietary internal training courses that are all aimed at making the Vantage Plastics design team the premier design house within the thermoforming industry. Ultimately, he desires this level of excellence to provide the very best customer experiences possible through rapid response and providing the very best design solutions within the industry. The courses he develops are placed into the Vantage Plastics Learning Management System (LMS) so the design team can be assigned courses and have ongoing access as needed. When asked what he likes about working at Vantage Plastics, Nathan says, “The design area is a very challenging, fast-paced environment, and we see a very diverse range of projects that come to us, which makes it very stimulating. This continually opens the door to innovative thinking as we develop solutions for our customers.” He further says, “I enjoy working with a team of people that are very dedicated to the mission we are fulfilling.”   

Outside of Vantage Plastics, Nathan does a lot of things with his extended family that resides in the area. During the winter months, he enjoys gaming. During the summer, he enjoys outdoor team sports, camping, biking, and hiking. He always enjoys time with his wife and children and doing volunteer work whenever time allows. A little-known fact is that Nathan used to enjoy being in a rock band. It was mostly comprised of family members, but they remained together for eight or nine years. While Nathan says they played at a few events like high schools and other venues, they mostly played purely for the fun of it. Even now that the group is dispersed, they still keep in touch.

As a member of the Vantage Plastics Team, Nathan Ostroski has certainly been helping fulfill the Vantage Plastics’ Mission of Forming Better Lives, Forming Solutions, and Forming Sustainable Futures.

Experience the thriving work environment at Vantage Plastics, where positivity and professionalism flourish. Our exceptional team is the cornerstone of our success, and we invite you to be a part of it. Don’t miss out—apply today and join the Vantage Plastics team!