This visit to General Kinematics was unique because earlier this year I had the privilege of seeing their equipment in action first. Bob Huffer, Director of Recycling, who just celebrated his 33rd year with GK, gave me a personal tour of the newly built Coastal Waste facility in Ft. Myers, Florida, the first facility I had ever seen with two de-stoners of different fraction sizes of material running in the same system. I was blown away by how much material that system was recovering. When I had the chance to visit GK’s manufacturing facility in Crystal Lake, Illinois and see where that equipment is designed and built, it was a huge learning experience to see them built from the ground up.
The manufacturing facility tour was led by Will Lichtenberger, North American Sales Manager; Tom Doepker, North American Components Sales Manager; and Whitney Swanson, Marketing Specialist. What came through during the visit, more than anything else, was passion. Passion for engineering, passion for the people who work there, and passion for building the best material moving equipment in the world.
Headquartered in Crystal Lake, General Kinematics is a third-generation, family-owned company that has been a leading provider of vibratory equipment for more than 60 years. GK designs and builds equipment across four primary industries, Foundry & Metalcasting, Resource Recovery, Mining & Minerals, and Bulk Processing. They have a recycling line that touches just about every area our members work in: construction and demolition, scrap, MSW, single stream, waste-to-energy, glass, tire, and e-waste. Their well-known product lines are running in facilities all over the world.
One of the things Will and Tom emphasized is that every piece of GK equipment is customized specifically to meet each customer’s needs. Everything they do has an engineering focus, and they were clear that one of the company’s biggest strengths is their ability to integrate systems and grow alongside their customers as those needs evolve.
What really stood out, though, was the people. GK has multiple employees who have been with the company for over 50 years, a number that is almost unheard of in our industry. When you ask why, the answer is consistent: the culture is great and the engineering work is genuinely exciting. People stay because they love what they do and they love the team they do it with. That kind of longevity does not happen by accident, and it speaks volumes about how GK takes care of its people.
Thank you to Bob, Will, Tom, Whitney, and the entire General Kinematics team for the visits and for the work you continue to do for this industry. GK is a great example of the kind of member that makes the CDRA community stronger.
