Don Gilbert has been selected as Brookville Equipment Corporation’s Employee of the Month for September.
Don has been employed at Brookville Equipment Corporation for the past 9 and 1/2 years. He started out as a Level II Designer, later promoted to Drafter, followed by Senior Drafter and now to his current position of Senior Designer.
As a Senior Designer, Don’s main duties are to develop minor to mid-level designs from engineering-specified components and requirements. Don is also involved in the coordination of customer’s during the design process on a technical basis. He is currently working on the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) project of rehabilitating the prototypes of both the Mobile Lounge and Plane Mate vehicles, as well as New York City Transit’s Pump and Generator cars.
Don doesn’t necessarily have a favorite type of equipment to work on. He enjoys the challenge of all BROOKVILLE products to come through the door. Don said, “All of BROOKVILLE’s equipment offers unique challenges, many of which are things we have never done before. We have never made Pump and Generator cars or modernizing old streetcars, until one day we did it. We have the talent and the ability to figure it out and that is exactly what we do. I really enjoyed designing some of our modern streetcar line. I have worked on Sound Transit and Portland Streetcar most recently, and they are pretty challenging – which is something I enjoy.” Don said BROOKVILLE has taught him a lot of skills he has needed to excel at his job and to earn himself the title of Employee of the Month. With prior experience, Don came to BROOKVILLE with design skills, but once he got to BROOKVILLE, it has been a continuous learning process ever since. At BROOKVILLE, he learned how to draft and model, as well as learning different standards the vehicles need to meet.
When Don was asked, “How do you keep yourself motivated at work?,” he said “I really take pride in my work. I want to do a good job for my family and for the company. Knowing we are making full vehicles people are going to ride in, makes me want to do a good job for them. It is also really motivating when you walk into our shop and see the final product sitting there, completed, and ready to be shipped, knowing I had a part in doing that; that is what keeps me motivated.” With designing, Don said, “Pretty much everything is a challenge, from getting designs to fit in the allotted space to meeting the customers’ requests, to making sure the product functions as desired. We are constantly working through challenges and figuring out how to be better.” Don expressed this work is like none other than he has done before.
One of the most important lessons Don has learned through his career is to listen and learn to ask the right questions. Don says, “At BROOKVILLE, when working with clients, it is really important to be a sponge and soak up everything they have to say, while knowing what questions to ask, so you can figure out what they truly want and what is important to them. You also have to learn it is a balance between what the customer wants and what Engineering is looking for. Therefore, you have to ask the right set of questions to get to the core of what they are expecting and wanting.” Don also expressed he loves the fact his job is not the same from one year to the next. BROOKVILLE always has a new project to work on, probably something the company has never done before, and it is Don and team’s job to figure out how to complete the task at hand. Don also really enjoyed designing the rebuilds for the El Paso and Muni Streetcars, which were heritage PCC streetcars from the early 1900s.
During his free time, he enjoys spending time with his seven grandchildren who are all under the age of nine. Don said “it keeping things interesting to have that many kids running around. I started my family young, and now I get to enjoy my grandkids before even reaching the age of 50.”