NES March Employee Spotlight
Employee Spotlight
Matt Ball
Every time Matt Ball trains a new inspection employee, he tells them two things:
No. 1: We don’t make paper clips.
No. 2: “If you’ve been here for over a year and you get up in the morning and you watch the news and see a rocket blew up or a plane crashed and your (expletive) doesn’t pucker at least a little bit, you’re in the wrong line of work,” he said.
That’s the kind of tone that Ball aspires – and needs – to set as the inspection supervisor at Napoleon Engineering Services. And it’s that approach, and his unwavering push for perfection – that make him so deserving of this month’s employee spotlight honor.
At any manufacturing company, the inspection department is paramount to success. But that’s especially true at NES, where the high-precision, aerospace-grade bearings that we both engineer and produce, must then meet an intensely high inspection standard before being assembled and shipped to a customer.
“You gotta understand that, as an inspector, especially at this level, there’s no (margin for error),” Ball said. “If I neglect something and that product goes out the door and nobody else catches it and something horrible happens, if the FAA does an investigation or Napoleon does his own investigation, it’s got my name all over it …
“So, it’s not just making sure that everything meets print; it’s also covering your (backside). As an inspector, you have to answer for that decision.”
IN HIS NEARLY 18 years at NES, the veteran Ball has performed a couple of different roles: He began in duplex grinding before transitioning to the grind channel (offset and cylindrical) with Craig Cobb and eventually settling into his natural position of inspector. Even as an inspector, he’d occasionally step out and run parts for Cobb while we were still a 10-15-employee operation.
But it’s been in his role as inspection supervisor that Ball has made perhaps his biggest impact. And it’s in his inspection lab that he and his team work so diligently to keep up with a higher volume of product while maintaining the same meticulous mindset for each job.
So, what does a typical day for Ball look like?
“It’s pretty basic,” he said. “I audit all the job packets that come in prior to the inspection. I go through and I make sure that all the routers are signed off, the SBC data sheets are accurate and filled out, all that. I make sure the guys all have work and that they have proper direction.”
As for his perch as supervisor, he added: “It’s really easy, because as long as (the guys) have some sort of direction and they have a job in front of them, they know what to do, then I don’t need to babysit them and make sure that it gets done.”
AMID THE tremendous growth and significant changes that have transpired in his nearly two decades here, Ball has enjoyed both the nature of the job and those with whom he works (“I mean, how many arguments do you see around here?” he asked).
But he takes personal pride in seeing the successful track records of our aviation and aerospace customers.
“The rewarding part of it for me would be knowing that every time there’s a SpaceX launch or Rocket Lab or Blue Origin, they don’t have a failure,” said Ball, NES’ eighth-longest tenured employee. “I mean, all of that goes through me. That’s where I (come in), is just ensuring that everything in that print is correct and that (the inspection) goes smoothly.”
Outside of work, Ball makes his own knives; indeed, he has his own coal and propane forge. All these years later, though, his focus remains on his work and helping NES reach new levels of success.
“We all have a vested interest,” he maintained. “And if you’ve been here for any length of time and you don’t feel like you have a vested interest in the benefits and the success of this place, then you shouldn’t be here.”
Still, he appreciates the recognition.
“Everybody likes to be recognized,” he said, “but I don’t do it for that. It’s great and it always makes you feel good knowing that what you’re doing is getting the attention of the people that it should. But it’s the job. I have to do my job.”
Said Chris Truman, vice president of operations, about Ball’s contributions to NES:
“Matt possesses a strong work ethic. When the chips are down, he steps up. The phrase ‘always answers the call’ speaks to his fundamental reliability. He’s a valuable asset here or in any workplace.”