Grow With Us: The People of Felling, Shannon Brunko, Engineering Team Designer II

Felling Trailers has been proudly manufacturing trailers for 50 years. Join us as we take a look back and see how much our company, along with our employees, has grown. Many of you may already know the story of how Felling Trailers started as a small fabrication shop in downtown Sauk Centre in 1974. Continuing to add to this story, we invite you to read our “Grow with Us Series – 40.” Here, you will meet the people of Felling; we will share a bit about the people who have played a part in what our company is today and where we will be tomorrow. Some people you will meet have been with us for many years, some decades, and others are starting their careers. To continue our series, we want you to meet Shannon Brunko, Engineering Team Designer II for Felling Trailers, Inc.

Grow With Us Series – 40

A Career Built on Experience and Growth

Shannon began his career with Felling Trailers in 1997, working in the Finishing department during the summer between his junior and senior years of high school. “In my twenties, I worked for a few different manufacturing companies, doing tasks such as welding, painting, repairing tires, and operating plastic injection molding machines. I returned to Felling Trailers as an intern in the Engineering department while pursuing a degree in Mechanical Design and Drafting at Alexandria Technical and Community College,” Shannon explained.

After completing his education, Shannon accepted a full-time position as a Designer I with the Engineering team at Felling. In this role, he applied his mechanical design knowledge to create trailer model drawings along with weldments, assemblies, and parts using computer-aided design programs like SolidWorks, Inventor, and AutoCAD. As a Designer I, he was also responsible for creating the Bill of Materials (BOM), which is crucial when the approved trailer moves to the production floor for material handlers and weld production. Felling Trailers takes pride in building trailers to meet customer specifications, and it is common for the Sales, Engineering, and customer teams to collaborate throughout the design process to ensure that the trailer fulfills standard or custom transportation needs.

Shannon then transitioned to the role of Designer II, where he continued designing model and weldment drawings and used his experience to mentor less experienced team members. He explained his motivation for this role change: “I’ve spent a lot of time trying to better understand our many product lines (over 240 trailer models), our many (and ever-evolving) manufacturing processes, as well as optimizing the software that our engineering department used to increase productivity and accuracy.” Shannon has also contributed to the development and implementation of software changes and systems within the engineering team.

A Strong Company Culture

When asked why he chose to work at Felling, Shannon said, “I’ve known the Felling family for much of my life. Many of my family members have worked—or still work—here, and I’ve made many great friends during my time here. I appreciate the company’s involvement in the local community, and many of my personal values align with the company’s core values. Additionally, I enjoy the challenges that come with creating custom trailers. Even after 14 years, I’m still amazed at how many combinations of options we encounter for the first time!” 

Since joining Felling Trailers fourteen years ago, Shannon has been part of the company’s growth and expansion.

“I know there are many people who have been here as long as I have—or even longer—and they would agree that it’s hard to describe how much has changed. Specific to engineering, when I started, the engineering team of 5 was shoved in a corner of the main office, right in the thick of things. Not long after, we ended up in the attic for a few years. By the time our team reached around 8 or 9 members, we had outgrown the attic and ended up in the front of building 7, where we stayed until the new office opened. With a relatively small group, I’ve seen the quantity and quality of engineering documentation greatly increase in my years here. The engineering department has always been a cooperative, hard-working team that I’m grateful to be a part of.”
— Shannon Brunko, Engineering Team Designer II

We are glad to have Shannon on our team. Thank you for all you do, Shannon!

Learn More About Joining the Felling Trailers Team!

Are you interested in becoming part of the Felling Team? Learn more about a career at Felling Trailers and grow with us!

This is the thirty-ninth feature in our “Grow with Us” series.  Read the other stories about Ismael Mendoza, Lead Painter, Greg Martino, Senior Welder, Mauricio “Jr” Perez, Parts & Service Associate, Aaron Butler, Senior Material Handler,   Chris Senger, Senior Material handler, Ron Funk, Machinist, Johnny Woodman, Lead Welder, Lloyd Shoutz, Maintenance Technician, Warren Weber, Product Manager, Scott Brown, Parts & Service Supervisor, Jim Robischion, Accounting Coordinator, Wade Skillings, Lead Machine Operator, Jacob Meyer, Inside Trailer Sales, Bob Vangstad, (retired) Painter, Chad Steinhofer, Lead Welder, Benji Hudalla, Final Inspector, Nathan Uphus, Sales, Greg Waletzko, (retired)Quality Assurance Manager at Felling Trailers, and Kristie Moritz, Scheduling Coordinator.