Celebrating National Engineers Week at Wausau Supply
At Wausau Supply Company manufacturing engineering plays a vital role in our growth, innovation, and commitment to continuous improvement. During National Engineers Week, we’re proud to recognize the talented engineers across our organization who help strengthen our operations, elevate quality, and make our workplaces safer and more efficient. Whether they’re designing automation, improving workflows, implementing new technology, or solving complex challenges on the production floor, our engineers drive the progress that keeps our company moving forward.
This week, we’re shining a spotlight on one of those contributors: Ed Rentmeester, Senior Manufacturing Engineer at Waudena.
A Closer Look: Ed’s Impact as a Manufacturing Engineer
Ed recently took on a significant project—the relocation of Waudena’s Hanging Paint Line, a complex effort that required creativity, collaboration, and problem‑solving.
Originally built with no intention of ever being moved, the line offered limited documentation and structural information. But as Waudena continues to modernize and invest in improved manufacturing flow, relocating the line became essential.
“It was a complicated move due to the lack of information on the original support structure,” Edward shared. “With all the new investments and changes happening at Waudena, the old location didn’t fit in the overall factory flow, so it had to be moved.”
With support from Maintenance and flexibility from Production, the project is nearing completion, demonstrating exactly how engineering drives meaningful change within our operations.
Engineering That Improves Safety, Automation, and Efficiency
Like many members of our engineering team, Ed’s work centers around equipment and automation. A major focus: reducing the need for team members to manually lift heavy components such as doors during production.
“With each project, it’s necessary to look at all aspects of the job to ensure we keep manual material handling to a minimum,” he explained.
This deliberate approach to automation, shared across the engineering team, helps us enhance safety, streamline operations, and support our long‑term growth.
The Energy Behind Our Engineering Team
Ed describes the engineering team as “super fun to work with” and appreciates being part of a company that is actively investing in its future. That enthusiasm is shared across our engineering community, whose expertise supports:
- Modernization of equipment
- Advanced manufacturing technology
- Improved factory layout and flow
- Automation and safety innovation
- Ongoing process optimization
Their work touches nearly every area of our business and positions us for what comes next.
Looking Ahead: Innovation in Manufacturing Engineering
Ed is particularly excited about expanding his knowledge in digital printing technologies and door slab machining equipment, two areas with significant opportunities for innovation.
Across Wausau Supply Company and Waudena, our engineers are learning, developing, and refining new technologies every day, helping ensure we remain forward‑thinking, competitive, and innovative.
Thank You to All Our Engineers
To every engineer across Wausau Supply Company: Thank you.
Your technical expertise, dedication, and drive for improvement shape our success. We appreciate the work you do each day to support our teams, elevate our products, and move our company forward.
Ready to start building something great?