Okay, so his real title is Vice President of Production, but he’s nicknamed himself the “Professional Mad Scientist”. Jahnke oversees and manages the day-to-day operations and manufacturing processes at WHP Trainingtowers™. With over 20 years of experience, he is well-versed in construction, manufacturing, drafting design, industrial maintenance, and even automotive repair.
When asked to describe his job, he said, “People give me vague descriptions of what they want and I figure out how we’re gonna build it and what it’s going to look like.” Jahnke says the thing he likes most about his job is the variety. From static structures to dynamic props to electronic controls, he never knows what he’ll be working on next. “Running the steel shop is always interesting. I may come in and find out the plasma table just caught on fire and I have to rewire it,” Jahnke laughed. “It’s a lot of fun because week to week I never know what I’m going to be dealing with,” he laughed. “It could be telescoping portable stairs or a wireless control unit for a hazmat prop. That keeps things interesting.”
The Pursuit of Quality Leads to Innovation
The thing he takes the most pride in is his team. “I work with a really good crew in the shop. We’re pretty good about thinking on our feet,” he explained.
He said he’s worked in many shops in a lot of different fields with a variety of people over the years and it’s hard to get a crew this good. “We’re constantly working on new things,” he said. “Once we get them refined, we turn them loose in the shop and the guys just take it and they run with it and they don’t let it go unless it’s right.”
Jahnke’s focus on quality and innovation is what drives him and his team. Many times, while solving a problem, they end up creating something better in the process. When they had problems getting doors, they started manufacturing their own doors. “We created a plate steel door that is designed to stand up to fire training. It’s been very well received,” Jahnke said. “I don’t think we’ve had one come back or had a service call on one for failure. Before, we’d send doors out and we’d get a call within a year, but we’ve completely erased that with a ground-up redesign.”
During COVID, supply chain issues brought new challenges as well, forcing them to create a lot of workarounds. “It’s driven a lot of innovation on our end,” Jahnke said. “We’ve upped our scrap utilization. We make more products in-house. We had to start making our own stair treads and we found that we could make them for a lot less when we bought the materials outright and made them in-house.”
Purpose-Driven Improvements in Training Towers
The team doesn’t wait for problems to be solved. They solve them themselves. “We keep it purpose-driven,” Jahnke explained. “I sit down with my production assistant and shop manager every week. We look at what could be improved and we focus on that. We launch it, we tweak it, we get it where we want it and we move on to something else that could use some improvement.”
For instance, Jahnke said they started doing cut and weld for their weld bits and ran into paint supply lead time issues so they started their own paint line. When they developed a new thermal lining system (Padgenite Interlock) that needed machine tiles, they brought in a C & C machine and started machining tiles. As they expanded their fabrication, jigs were necessary, so they looked at how to make them and brought in 3D printers. Now they 3D print tooling with jigs and fixtures. Things are constantly changing in the shop and Jahnke likes the dynamic atmosphere. Additionally, this relentless pursuit of improvement leads to innovation that ensures their products and their processes are always ahead of the industry standard. “Every year I look back and I can’t believe we were doing things the way we were a year ago,” Jahnke said.
Specializing in Fire Training Towers
Jahnke says that it’s their singular focus on training towers that sets WHP Trainingtowers apart from its competitors. Other companies may offer various steel buildings, or they advertise outside fabrication services. WHP only builds and sells fire training facilities. “We specialize. Honestly, everyone in my office knows more than most of our competitors know about training towers…that’s everyone,” he shared. “If I get free time between projects, I’m not focusing on developing another product line for some kind of fabrication service or self-storage building. If I get free time, I’m looking at innovating a new fire prop or automating something that has been problematic in our processes or I’m looking at old designs to see if there is room for improvement.”
Stronger, smarter, faster, better, safer – everything Jahnke and the team touch advances the value, practicality, or affordability of fire training towers. “I think the whole team is proud to work in an industry like ours that protects and saves the lives of firefighters who risk it all for our safety,” Jahnke said. Mad scientist…maybe. But we’re just glad he’s on the side of good, not evil.
Contact WHP Trainingtowers today for your fire or hazmat training needs; call at: 1-800-351-2525 or, contact us online today!
