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Bryan Lin: American Citizen and Project Manager Extraordinaire

by Featured NewsNEWS

When Bryan Lin came to the U.S. from Taiwan in 2009, he couldn’t speak one word of English.

“I couldn’t even go to McDonald’s and say, ‘I want the number 1.’”

But one year of community college taught him the language … along with drafting & design.

What does this mean to you? You’ll see…

Shortly after moving to Springfield, MO, Bryan was employed as a subcontractor, which meant he worked with several companies in various industries.

One of those companies was Custom Powder Systems. And the way we do business made quite an impression on Bryan. He chose to stay on at CPS because, well, we’ll let him tell you…

“It’s not just about having a job and earning some money – what CPS does is helping companies in the pharmaceutical or food industry to have medicine or just make life better – they are making a difference. This job is meaningful – CPS does meaningful work.”

What does this mean to you? You’ll see…

Bryan’s career at CPS began as a drafter. Before long, he was promoted to Mechanical Designer, and then quickly promoted again to Project Manager, a role in which he has excelled.

CPS CEO Denise McIntosh says that, currently, “He’s managing not only people in our building but six other vendors in two countries and getting the deliverables done on time.”

So what does this mean to you? We’re so glad you asked.

  • Without a strong Project Manager like Bryan Lin, your project goes nowhere.
  • A strong Project Manager like Bryan Lin serves as a servant leader and keeps you up-to-date on the progress of your equipment.
  • Having a strong Project Manager like Bryan Lin increases the likelihood of your project being done on time and on budget.
  • A strong Project Manager like Bryan Lin makes sure promises are kept.

That’s what having a strong Project Manager like Brian Lin means to you.

So if you have any questions (in English or Mandarin), contact Bryan at BryanLin@custom-powder.com. You should also ask him about the time he and his team “smoked” the brisket cook-off competition using a custom-built CARDBOARD smoker.

Brian's cardboard smoker

In the meantime, when he’s not hard at work, you’ll find Bryan tinkering with electronics at home, surfing Lifehacker.com, or spending time with his six-month-old daughter.

Oh, and because everyone likes a happy ending…

On April 13, 2017, after 12 months of paperwork and waiting, Bryan Lin became an American citizen.

Of course, we threw him a big party. The cake is long-gone, but the USA-themed decorations are still hanging up in his office.

What does this mean to you? Well, not much, probably.

But it means the world to Bryan Lin.

Looking for an exceptional project manager like Bryan? Click here to continue the conversation.

School Tour

Custom Powder Gives WINGS to Gifted Children

by EventsFeatured News

“These kids are the engineers and designers of the future.” – Debbie Clary, Teacher for WINGS program

Custom Powder Systems recently welcomed around 100 students from the WINGS program to tour our facility in Springfield, MO.

WINGS stands for Working with the Individual Needs of Gifted Students. It’s a K-8th grade program that offers weekly classes for over 650 gifted students from public, private, and religious schools, as well as homeschooled children. These classes range from Robotics to Shakespeare to Chemistry to the Science of Harry Potter.

Finding businesses that allow field trips for such a large group of kids can be challenging. So Custom Powder Systems was thrilled at the opportunity to give these gifted students a glimpse behind our wizards’ curtains.

Much like these young scholars, CPS stays on the forefront of science, engineering, and technology. And it’s important for kids of all ages to see how they can put their talents to good use with a career in the manufacturing industry.

We’ve found that allowing kids to see the operations of our facility is the key to sparking their interest in manufacturing and design. By taking these young, passionate people out of their element and bringing them into an environment they’ve never imagined, they light up. We saw their fascination firsthand.

And we read about it in nearly 100 individual, original, hand-designed Thank You notes that we received a few days later.

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One item of note: We saw a near 50/50 split of boys and girls that toured our facility. This excites CPS President Denise McIntosh to no end.

Her advice for young girls interested in the field of manufacturing, engineering, and design:

“Learn everything you can learn and if something interests you, pursue it. Doesn’t have to be a so-called “girly job”. If welding appeals to you, pursue it. If engineering appeals to you, and building things appeals to you, go do it. Try it.”

We were honored to welcome these bright, talented WINGS students into our world. After all, these are the designers, electrical engineers, and mechanical engineers of the future.

Who knows, maybe they will be working for us one day.

Or for you.

If we’re lucky.

We care about our future engineers. Click here to continue the conversation.

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4 Years, 2 Months, 15 Days…But who’s counting?

by Featured NewsSafety

“How in the world do you do it?”

It’s a question we hear often at Custom Powder Systems.

Why?

Because, as of today, we have gone four years, two months, and fifteen days without a lost time accident.

We honestly had no idea that a streak like ours was uncommon – until representatives from other companies began commenting, “This is a big deal” and “It’s virtually impossible considering the work you do.”

So now, more than ever, we have a responsibility to our employees and our clients to keep this streak alive.

The Experience Modification Rate (EMR) is a number used by insurance companies to project future chances of risk based on past injuries. The lower the EMR, the lower premiums will be, and the lower the costs involved. We pass those (not insignificant) savings onto our customers.

The standard EMR for our industry is 1.

Our EMR is .67.

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This is a big deal for our team. Not only for the men and women in the factory, but also for members of management who would have the unfortunate duty of break devastating news to employees’ family members.

This should be a big deal for customers, too. Because, when you work with an unsafe manufacturer, you will likely be paying more for their product. The rising cost of workman’s comp and high insurance premiums is absorbed into the cost of the products and services. And that means you will end up paying for their mistakes.

We refer to it as a “Carelessness Tax” – and it’s a tax we choose not to impose on our customers

To say that Custom Powder Systems takes safety seriously is a significant understatement. Our employees are our friends. Our family. And when we take care of our family, our costs go down. And stay down.

Four years, two months, and fifteen days down.

And we hope we’re just getting started.

As our costs go down, your costs go down. Click here to continue the conversation.