Gray Manufacturing Quality Engineer Evan Grose Becomes Compass Precision Employee of the Month
Even someone who doesn’t believe in destiny can’t deny that Gray Manufacturing Technologies and the company’s Quality Engineer Evan Grose were made for each other. Not even a lucrative offer from another manufacturing company could change that.
To celebrate this perfect marriage, Compass Precision has named Evan its Employee of the Month for February 2021.
Gray Manufacturing President Jerry Soots, who has known Evan for more than a decade, describes him as a “student of knowledge,” a “sponge” when it comes to learning and a relentless worker.
For those reasons, Jerry left the door open for Evan to return when he departed to work for Centro Inc. in 2017. Evan, who graduated first in his class while earning a mechanical engineering degree at Catawba County Community College, had been previously employed at Centro Inc. and said he hoped his new role at Centro would become more fulfilling upon coming back.
But Evan missed the “instant gratification” and “ever-changing” tasks his position at Gray gave him. A conversation with Jerry, where he pointed out the advantages of returning to work for him, didn’t help either.
A mere few weeks later, Evan was back at Gray.
It’s been almost five years since he started at Gray with a six-month stint at Centro sandwiched in the middle. It took a much shorter amount of time for Evan and Jerry to build a very strong working relationship, which has greatly benefited both men.
In 2018, the Gray quality engineer left the company, and with no obvious replacement, Jerry requested Evan try the role. Evan took a training class for a week and received some tips from the previous quality engineer, but after that, he described his promotion as “sink or swim.”
Not only did Evan swim, he excelled, taking the role and the company to another level of success. Still, he credits Jerry, along with his wife, Kendra, for his success.
“My career would never have developed at the pace that it has had I not gone back to work for Jerry,” Evan said. “Between my wife and Jerry and Gray Manufacturing, all of that has pushed me to be better and do more than even I ever thought I could do myself.”
Evan’s desire for knowledge must be considered another part of his success. It’s a major reason why his transition to the new role went so smoothly.
Work related or not, Evan takes it upon himself to learn something new every day. Figuring out the answer to a problem is one thing, but Evan digs deeper in his exploration for knowledge — learning the why instead of just the what.
“That’s what my brain feeds on the most — learning as much as you can. I think your brain and your (consciousness) is a gift, and it shouldn’t be squandered.”
“(But) I don’t only want to know the answer, I want to know why it’s the right answer,” Evan said. “I don’t like to be just told, ‘Well, this is what it is.’ I want to know how we got there.”
Someone with such a thirst for knowledge might become a know-it-all, but not Evan. When the team at Gray Manufacturing comes across an issue, he doesn’t care who conceives the answers.
“It does not have to bloom full from my brow at all. I don’t care where (the answer) comes from, who has the idea. What matters to me is that it’s right, and it’s what’s best for the team.”
The ability of the team to get through problems together is Evan’s favorite part about working at Gray. As quality engineer, his daily tasks mostly include running CMM programs and collecting data for source inspection requests, but Evan also always makes himself available to any co-worker who needs help.
While he came from a family of engineers, Evan learned he wanted to be in CNC machining when he first began working with 3-axis machining at his third job. For a man hoping to avoid ruts and always looking to improve, Gray’s primary focus of 5-axis machining gives him different unique challenges every day.
Born and raised in North Carolina, Evan married Kendra in Oct. 2012. The couple have a twin boy and girl, who will turn six this year. In his freetime, he enjoys fishing and hunting, especially for white-tailed deer.
True to form, Evan keeps a detailed hunting journal of the deer he’s caught. Because he hunts on his family’s farm, the data collection helps him determine the best places to hunt during different times of the day or year. Evan has shot at least one deer every year since 1993.