NFPA Programs Connect Members to New Hires

One of the goals NFPA works to accomplish with our workforce programs is to connect students in our educational programs to careers in the fluid power industry at NFPA member companies. It’s always great to hear the success stories!

NFPA member, Jim Kaas, of Iowa Fluid Power (IFP), recently hired two students that he met through NFPA programs:

Caleb Cobb was hired for a summer internship after Jim met Caleb through NFPA’s Fluid Power Vehicle Challenge program. Caleb was a part of the Murray State University team that Jim mentored. In his internship at IFP, Caleb was a valued member of the engineering team and contributed to a number of projects. Caleb started the summer on the production floor building custom power units and working with the technicians to understand the build process. From there he assisted multiple project engineers in multiple phases of the sales and design process.

Caleb spent a good deal of his time with IFP’s manufacturing division researching component pricing for project cost estimates, as well as working with bill of materials in Excel spreadsheets. Caleb also participated in documenting and testing many of the production power units built by IFP’s manufacturing division during his time there.

Chandlar Armstrong was hired after Jim met him at the Milwaukee School of Engineering for an NFPA meeting regarding a new educational program. The second day on the job in a full-time position at IFP, Chandlar was sent to Sarasota, Florida to participate in a three-day supplier training at Sun Hydraulics. Chandlar has been working on the valve manifold team quoting custom manifolds and hydraulic circuits. The team designs solutions for customer applications that range from single cartridge manifold assemblies to custom valve packs with cartridge, ISO, and sectional valve interfaces. According to Jim, Chandlar has been a great addition to the IFP’s manufacturing division team and an immediate contributor with his fundamental hydraulic training.