C3 Celebrates Employee Anniversaries

C3 Corp., a machinery and engineering services supplier based in Appleton, Wisconsin, recognized four employees who reached milestone anniversaries this year.

Lois Smits, customer service manager, has been with C3 for 25 years, and three employees marked five years with the company: Zak Albrecht and Grant Daniels, both mechanical engineers; and Josh Vande Hey, technical services leader.

Smits was the third employee hired at C3. She started in an administrative role, and as the company grew, her duties expanded also to include human resources and insurance. As the engineering team and projects grew, she shifted focus to quoting, ordering and receiving components full time. Next, she headed up procurement and eventually moved into a formal customer service role. This area of the business grew quickly into a team, which Smits now manages.

“In the early days, we had to wear a lot of hats and do whatever it took,” said Joe Van de Hey, C3 founder and chief executive officer. “I think (Lois has) held every position at least two or three times. I can’t imagine doing it any other way with any other person. She’s done a wonderful job and is perfect for us.”

According to the company, Albrecht has recently completed a number of large manufacturing projects and installations that have helped him further develop his engineering skills, as well as his customer-relationship and account-management skills.

Daniels, who started with C3 immediately after earning his engineering degree, recently became the lead mechanical engineer for the company’s lamination-engineering team and is spearheading a number of projects currently in development, including a new machine set to launch this year.

Josh Vande Hey, a civil engineer, works very closely with C3 customers to make sure their manufacturing needs are fully met by the C3 engineering team and that all customer projects meet operational goals.

The company celebrated with cupcakes, gifts and the launch of a video of the four employees at its company meeting in June. You can see the video at the C3 website.