This month’s employee spotlight is on Travis Jonker, Tangent’s CAD Manager. Travis is a CAD wizard but never stays in one lane; he assists in every other department when needed and fixes everything while he’s at it. Before Travis joined the Tangent family, he was building well-rounded experience in the industry working as a drafter at an engineering firm, and before that as a lineman for a communications company.
When he’s not drafting (or fixing) for Tangent, he’s probably at home 3-D printing. In fact, last month we featured the face shields he printed for the Riverside Community Hospital during their PPE shortage amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. His delivery of 3-D printed face shields prompted surgeons and hospital staff to reach out to the mayor, urging him to find ways to produce more 3-D printed PPE. The mayor contacted local libraries and colleges to start using their resources to print materials for the hospitals.
As filament (the material necessary to 3-D print) was running out of stock across the nation, Travis became a liaison for these PPE efforts. Using a Reddit 3-D printing community, Travis was able to find local hobbyists with filament and provide them with the face shield designs. He then coordinated deliveries to the libraries and colleges who would sanitize the shields and deliver them to the hospital. Through this amazing network of resourcefulness and generosity, the Riverside Community Hospital is now nearly fully stocked in face shields and will soon no longer need new deliveries.
We’re proud of Travis’ efforts and continual innovation. His can-do attitude and dedication to problem solving was instilled by his beloved grandfather, who taught Travis that he could learn to fix anything and waste nothing. It’s a quality that makes Travis such a strong asset, but more importantly, a great person and a key member of Tangent’s Team.
When asked how to describe Tangent, Travis remarked that “Tangent is a family that is taking over the world,” and we absolutely LOVE that answer.
Three cheers for Travis, from the whole Tangent family.
