Q: You’ve been here at Imperial Systems pretty much since the beginning, right?
A: I started when we were still over in Grove City. Me, Russ, and Steve are the three still left from that original crew. I’ve been here twelve years. I started off doing welding and then did fabrication, and did a little bit of everything. In the past year I’ve been doing a lot of field work and traveling.
Q: How has the company grown since you started?
A: It’s grown like crazy. When I was in Grove City and we were moving to the Jackson Center place, I’d work ten-hour days all week and then go with Russ to Jackson Center and work on the new place. And it didn’t take long before we started to outgrow that.
Q: What do you think about the new building?
A: It was totally necessary for us to be able to grow. We’re already just about full. Since we moved in back in January things are starting to get settled in and they’re running a lot smoother.
Q: How much more do you see us growing?
A: The way things are growing I could see us outgrowing this building someday. We keep getting more and more orders for equipment.
Q: What are your favorite things to do here, since you do some of everything?
A: I like running the plasma table, and I like doing fitting and welding. I run the forklift, and now I do a lot of field work so I’m off traveling around a lot. You get to see some interesting things out there.
Q: What would you tell people about working here?
A: We have a lot of fun working here. Maybe a little too much sometimes. It’s a really good bunch of guys.
Q: And you’re still happy working here after twelve years?
A: Absolutely. It hasn’t been perfectly smooth sailing for the entire twelve years and we’ve had our ups and downs, but it’s a great place to work.
Q: And when you’re not here, you’re at your farm.
A: That’s right. My dad’s the third generation and I’m the fourth generation on that farm. I’ve worked there since I was a kid. We didn’t have sitters… we just went to the farm. If I’m not at work, that’s where I am.
Q: And you’ve got a lot going on there right now with all the baby goats, right?
A: We had triplets the other day. We’re bottle feeding one of them. We had eleven babies out of the five goats I bought on my last trip.
Q: What are you going to do with all these goats?
A: They’re meat goats, Boer goats. They originated in Africa. They can get up to 200 pounds. There’s a big demand for goat meat in some places.
Q: How many goats do you plan on having?
A: My dad and I are still talking about that one. A lot, I know that. My oldest kid, my nine-year-old, is starting 4H this year. He’s got two goats. The younger ones will start here pretty soon.
Q: So you’ve got ducks, chickens, horses, cows, goats, pigs…
A: And my dog, Molly. She’s a chocolate lab. She’s my farm dog. She minds me and no one else, and I love it.
Q: And you’ve got your tractors.
A: I’m into the Mercer County Antique Power Association, antique farm equipment, antique tractor pulls. I have a tattoo of my first tractor. Took a picture of it and took it in to them.
Q: So you’re passing on the farming tradition to the fifth generation?
A: Of course I am!
