Engineering management technology alum finds passion in career
KALAMAZOO, Mich.—Western Michigan University alumnus Cory Scholler’s excitement for his role at automotive parts manufacturer is palpable.
A senior industrial engineer at DENSO’s Battle Creek location, a production facility that focuses on manufacturing automotive air conditioning and engine cooling components and systems, Scholler, B.S.’22, is passionate about what he does. As part of the the North Sub Region Industrial Engineering team, Schooler is responsible for long-term planning and project implementation across three DENSO facilities in Michigan and one in Canada, Scholler credits his passion for this role to his undergraduate degree in engineering management technology from Western.
“I got such a wide scope of knowledge and classes from material and statics to economics and project management,” says Scholler. “I believe it is important to understand the whole picture and have a solid foundation before being able to really work on projects and make decisions. With the broad technical background of my degree, it opened my mind to not only question the entire picture but gave me a good base to strengthen my technical background without having to worry about the basics.”
As a senior industrial engineer, Scholler focuses on five specific areas—Toyota production system advancement, continuous improvement, effective line design, job improvement and human resource development. Always evolving technology in vehicles, such as hybrid and battery electric power, leads to new challenges that Scholler loves to take on.
“As components for cars change based on internal combustion engines and electric motors, we need to continue to develop new products to heat and cool vehicles,” says Scholler. “Products like radiators and compressors have been around for a long time. With new products, we will have a clean slate to start the evolution of efficiency all over again.”
Scholler entered the workforce feeling confident and well-rounded, with not only the technical skills required to launch his career, but skills beyond that ability, skills WMU helped him develop
“I got such a wide scope of knowledge and classes from material and statics to economics and project management. The broad technical background of my degree taught me to not only question but to learn the entire picture,” says Scholler.
“Through many presentations and projects mostly, I was able to strengthen my communication skills by really being able to understand different audiences,” says Scholler. “Although being technically competent is important no matter where you work, you also will have to learn nuances of how they do things. Through classes and projects, I learned how to present findings and results with conciseness and clarity so that no matter what I am working on, the story is clear.”
When Scholler looks back on his accomplishments, he notes the ones that impacted him at Western.
“Unknown to me during my last semester as an undergraduate I was presented the ‘Outstanding Student’ award which is given to the top student in the graduating class chosen by the academic staff,” says Scholler. “It meant a lot knowing after lots of changes and uncertainty I finally ended up where I was supposed to be.”
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