Tri-Tec Production Coordinator Dennis Jenkins Becomes Compass Precision Employee of the Month
A lot of employees at Compass Precision have aspirations to work in manufacturing or CNC machining at a very young age. But that wasn’t the case for Tri-Tec Industries Production Coordinator Dennis Jenkins.
Dennis loved cars as a kid and that passion grew into his first career interest – the automobile industry.
Despite success in that industry, though, Dennis couldn’t pass up an opportunity to work in machining with his stepfather and Tri-Tec President Rick Loyd.
“I knew in time that I wanted to work with Rick, knowing what his work ethic was and knowing that he had been successful at what he was doing, and I wanted an opportunity with that,” said Dennis.
“[Rick] called me one day, and said they were looking for help. He said, ‘I know it’s not a great paying job. It’s not something you’re going to like right away, but it’s something to get your foot in the door, and it’s an opportunity.’
“So, I took a leap.”
Five years after transitioning to Tri-Tec with no previous CNC machining experience, Dennis has been named the Compass Precision Employee of the Month for April 2022.
Dennis is the 25th employee, including fifth at Tri-Tec Industries, to win the honor. Ivan Rico was the most recent Employee of the Month nomination from Tri-Tec in Nov. 2021.
After more than seven years working for the Ford Motor Company as a service consultant and diesel technician, Dennis’ career was soaring in the automotive world. But he took a paycut to join Tri-Tec in 2017 in the hopes of learning from Rick and finding a better balance with his career and personal life.
So Dennis started at Tri-Tec cutting material. He was eager to learn and quickly gained a passion for machining.
To increase his progress, Dennis studied machining, watching introductory videos during his spare time.
It helped that Dennis had Rick to push him. Dennis says his stepfather held him to a standard that was initially higher than the standard he held himself to.
“He holds you accountable to the standards that he holds himself accountable for,” Dennis said of Rick. “It really makes you look at every little detail of every single thing.”
After a short while, Dennis began excelling on Tri-Tec’s machines. He served as CNC machinist for three years, and then in April 2020, Dennis became production coordinator.
He describes his production coordinator role as doing “anything from a to z” for Tri-Tec. On a daily basis, Dennis ensures the machines are running properly, orders and invoices are completed, and raw materials are arriving on time.
But everyday is different, which is what Dennis enjoys most about working at Tri-Tec.
“Whether it be a machining problem or figuring out how to deal with a machining problem, [we have to be] able to work through those complications and make things work for our customers.”
Born and raised in Rock Hill, South Carolina, Dennis has been married to his wife, Samantha, for almost five years. The couple have a 12-year-old son, Jhace, and gave birth to a second son, Callen, six months ago.
The family is planning to move to a new house, currently being built, just outside of Rock Hill in York, SC.
In his free time, Dennis still really likes cars. He also enjoys spending time with friends and family, mountain biking and shooting guns. Dennis tries to go mountain biking at least a couple times a week.