Richard Ceresko, senior product engineer at McKEON.
Richard is responsible for creating the production work orders and detail drawings that are used in the manufacturing process of the McKEON product line. Accurately communicating this data with McKEON’s factory is essential to ensure the proper design and production of any given project once it is released for fabrication.
Richard majored in physics at Stony Brook University after initially planning on studying architecture. While at Stony Brook, Richard took a few statics courses and said he enjoyed that aspect of architecture the most. He was also working with AutoCAD at the time, making his transition to engineering more natural.
“I like working on AutoCAD because I like [math], and it was almost like a math playground, and there is a lot of geometry [involved],” Richard said.
Richard started at McKEON almost seven years ago as a draftsman. Later he transitioned to a product engineer and acquired new responsibilities outside product design. “Now [I am] working on getting the releases out as quick as we can,” Richard said. “The later stages of the whole process.”
When releasing projects for fabrication, Richard takes a meticulous approach to communicating what components need to be manufactured and determining the correct dimensional lengths for compliance and proper application. This methodical process might appear tedious, but Richard noted that it is crucial when ensuring the product is assembled correctly to meet the proper specifications of its intended design and application.
“When we get to this point, it’s after the shop drawings have been approved after everything has been done, and … we really have to translate it to be perfectly what we built,” Richard said. “It’s important to keep checking and checking and checking.”
A fun fact about Richard is that he plays the bass guitar. “My friend just kind of had one in their room, and I just started playing it and fell in love with it,” Richard said.
“There are some things you can do that take away that part of your mind that is anxious and always running around,” Richard said. “If I just play music, I can just sit there and think.”
Richard also noted his love for live music. He said he enjoys going to local establishments to listen to all the different bands. Richard plays and listens primarily to jazz and jazz fusion.
Richard also tends to read science fiction and fantasy books in his free time. He mentioned Stephen King’s “Dark Tower” series as one of his personal favorites. He also cited “Lord of the Rings” as one of his favorite book series, which he believes is better than the movies.