Five Questions Friday with Todd Turner of Macro Plastics

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Toddturner Name: Todd Turner

Title: Senior Product Engineer

Job description: Total product development responsibility, from concept to production

Company: Macro Plastics, a producer of large plastic material handling bins, primarily for agriculture

Hometown: Denver, Indiana

1)Why did you choose to do the work you do?

One of my first memories as a child is playing with an Erector Set. When I was four years old, the daycare had my parents come in to see a windmill I had built. Growing up with a family of Purdue graduates, I just felt like I would always be an engineer. Becoming a product engineer was a natural progression through my career as I was able to hone in on the best match for my talents and my interests.

2)What is your proudest career moment?

When my latest multi-component container produced parts from the first tool trial that did not require any more than a few small tweaks. It was able to go directly into product trials, product testing, and into production with only those small tweaks.

3)What goal inspires you?

My goal is to design products that are completely production-ready directly from the tooled release of the CAD models. I call it the “Works the First Time” quotient. It is a measurement of the cost of Engineer Changes versus the Original Primary Capital. I would like that number to be very, very small.

4)How has SolidWorks made a difference in your life?

In 1995, I spent my days pushing back wireframes with calculator in hand to calculate drafts when this little company claimed they had software that would run on a PC and could design in 3D. It took me less than a day and half to pick it up. Despite that new program’s shaky stability and time-intensive processing, it changed the time to concept from a week to a day. From those early days, I can directly trace my growth as a development engineer with the growth in the software’s capability. Now, we do rapid concepts, photo renderings, FEA in process development, and direct data output to vendors. That incredible evolution of the development process over what is a relatively short 15 years can be directly traced to being empowered by SolidWorks. Of course, CAD is just a tool, and it still requires skilled artisans to effectively use any tool. But SolidWorks has been one heck of a tool, and it has helped me to be the success that I am.

5) What’s your favorite food?

PIZZA KING pizza. It’s a Indiana chain of thin, crispy, salty-crust pizza that sure was inspired from heaven above.

Matthew West

SolidWorks alumnus. I like plate reverb, Rat pedals, Thai curry, New Weird fiction, my kids, Vespas, Jazzmasters, my wife & Raiders of the Lost Ark. Not necessarily in that order.