Our Spotlight on Super series highlights the SRC team members who help keep the company a great a place to work and grow. For this installment, we sat down with Michael Gay, a manufacturing engineer at our Arizona Division, who has been with the company since spring of 2023.
MG: Originally, I’m from Northern Illinois, then went to school in Wisconsin and spent about eight years there. After that I went to Texas for about year, then had an opportunity to come to Phoenix to work in the golf industry. The weather out here was definitely a draw for us, compared to Wisconsin.
Q: How did you come to work at SRC? What’s the story there?
MG: I’d been doing some consulting work with the company here and there – mostly brazing training, that sort of thing, so I knew about Super Radiator before I joined.
Q: And what’s your official title at SRC?
MG: I’m a manufacturing engineer. I absolutely love it here.
Q: What sort of work does your role entail? What’s a day in the life like?
MG: It’s hard to say what any one specific day looks like, just because it is so varied. But currently we’re spending a lot of time going in between our current location and our new facility, doing things like equipment installations or new production layouts, troubleshooting things when there are issues, supporting new projects as they come up, those sorts of things.
Q: Have you always done this type of hands-on, technical work? Where does that passion for working with your hands come from?
MG: Yeah, I’ve always done that sort of work for the most part – even going back to when I was a kid. My dad was a heavy truck mechanic, so as a kid, I was learning to work on cars, lawnmowers, stuff like that. And I really got into the CAD and design side of things as I got older.
Q: You ran your own company before joining SRC, correct? As someone who was self-employed prior to coming to SRC, what was it about the company that led to you coming on board and foregoing the perks of self-employment?
MG: That's right. I had a business where I made custom putters. But when you’ve got kids at home – which is where my shop was – sometimes it can be easy to feel like you don’t want to work. And, at the same time, it can be tough to “turn off” work when you’re working out of your own garage, like I was. So, it’s been nice to have dedicated time to work. Also, when I had my own shop, I felt like I was spending less and less time on the things that I wanted to do. It was less of the engineering and fabrication and more of the customer side of the equation that was taking up most of my time, and I learned that wasn’t really for me.
Q: What do you like about working at SRC? What would you say to someone who is considering working here that speaks to the working environment?
MG: I’d say getting to work with my hands is one of my favorite parts about this job. For someone who’s thinking of working here, I’d say that the quality of the people that we have here is unmatched compared to places I’ve worked before. Everyone from the top down is very involved and receptive to new ideas. There’s a really good communication line from me to my boss, and all the way up – there’s not a lot of red tape. And ownership is really good about supporting the work we do. If we think there’s something that’s going to make us better at what we do, I feel empowered to pursue those things.
Q: What about when you’re not at work? How do you like to spend your time?
MG: Well, I’ve got three kids – two boys and a girl – so that definitely takes up quite a bit of my time. But when I have some time to myself, I do like to golf, go fishing, that sort of thing. And, while I’m not much of a camper, my family likes to do it, so I’ll tag along with them as well.
If you’d like to know more about working at SRC, be sure to stop by our Careers Homepage to learn more about who we are, what we make, and where we work. And stop by our job listings page to see our open positions. Manufacturing experience is preferred, but not required. If you’ve got a positive attitude and a good work ethic, we’d love to hear from you. Thanks for reading.