Heil Trailer International has named Cecil Kennedy engineering team leader of the Rhome Production Engineering Dept. in Rhome, Texas, and Larry Finch engineering manager of the Athens, TN, production engineering department.
As engineering team leader, Kennedy will lead the production engineering/order processing team, working with production, quality, supply chain and sales to continue to improve our product and processes.
Kennedy has been with Heil since 1995 and worked as a supervisor on the shop floor before moving to the engineering team. He’s also worked with the product management team.
Finch will lead the production engineering/order processing team, where he’ll work with production, quality, supply chain and sales to improve products and processes.
Finch joined the Heil team last October as a mechanical engineer in the research and development department. He previously worked at GE, where he was responsible for new product introduction. He’s also held positions at Blue Bird Bus Company, a school bus manufacturer, and Miller Industries, which manufactures tow trucks, car carriers and car haulers.
Heil Trailer International has also named Brian Polgrean manager of the manager of the research and development team, hired a new controller at Heil Trailer Mexico and also named a new plant manager at its Athens, TN, facility.
Polgrean was most recently dry bulk product development engineer. He has 15 years of experience in heavy manufacturing, including positions with Freightliner Group and American LaFrance.
Jacob Radish is the new plant manager in Athens. He previously worked at Oshkosh Corp., where he held a number of key leadership positions in operations and Lean transformation.
Ricardo Ibaven is the new controller of Heil Trailer Mexico. He will be responsible for all of the finances for Heil’s Mexico operations.
Heil also announced that Karl Tong, a leader in the company’s Research and Development division, has earned his Professional Engineer License (PE) in mechanical engineering.
To secure this credential, an engineer must possess a minimum of a bachelor’s degree from an Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET)-recognized university, have a minimum tenure in practice and must secure letters of recommendation from a minimum of six colleagues in parallel practice who already possess the license. Lastly, a comprehensive eight-hour test must be passed in the candidate’s respective area of engineering expertise.