Although Jim Sutter officially joined the Delta-Therm family in early March, he has been a familiar face at the company for a few months. Jim’s experience lies in building and documenting control panels. He came on board as a temporary employee in November and has been assisting lead engineer Ed Witte on a variety of projects.

“When I first got here, I built a couple of panels and since then, I've worked on miscellaneous things, building sensors and doing some drawings,” said Sutter, who is single and owns a condo in Schaumburg.

Sutter's background includes a seven-year stint with Cox Automation in Bloomingdale where he worked on machine building. He also spent three years with Dynomax, Inc. which specializes in the designing and manufacturing of machine tool spindles. “For Dynomax, I built machines and did facility and machine wiring, and control panels,” he said.

While at Cox Automation, Sutter learned AutoCAD, a software application for 2D and 3D design and drafting. He'll use these skills in the engineering department by providing schematic drawings for Delta-Therm's control panels.

His position with Delta-Therm will provide engineering, technical, on-site, manufacturing and sales support, said Witte. “His AutoCAD experience is valuable with panel layouts and is equally valuable with site plan drawings for our sales associates,” said Witte. “He is quite capable with tools and test equipment which will help speed up new product and listing agency testing.”

Sutter says his greatest asset may be his attention to detail and quality. He hopes to adopt new skills at Delta-Therm, and already finds himself engrossed in a challenging project. “I'm working on a new sensor at this point and trying to get a process done as far as manufacturing it,” he said.

In his spare time, Sutter enjoys wood burning and making furniture for friends. He recently purchased a large piece of oak and burned in the saying, “Together is a wonderful place to be.” The finished product was given to his sister's in-laws to hang above their fireplace. “It came out really nice,” he said.

Sutter graduated in 1984 from Conant High School in Hoffman Estates. He completed several courses at the College of DuPage and also attended William Rainey Harper College in Palatine. He hopes to obtain his associate's degree one day.