Michael McCallum Prioritizes Innovation as Plexpack’s New Engineering Manager

Learn how this emerging leader is leveraging his continued education to help his company be on the leading edge.

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Michael McCallum

Michael McCallum got his start in the packaging and processing industries while he was studying mechanical engineering technology at Durham College. During that time, he had a unique opportunity to participate in a co-op work term at the Toronto-based packaging OEM, Plexpack. McCallum was quickly intrigued by the use of automation, pneumatics, and motors controlled by electronics and software in Plexpack’s bagging, sealing, and shrink-packaging machinery. The real-world insight McCallum gained at the OEM while still in school was crucial in leading him to his career path in industrial machine design. McCallum was recently promoted to engineering manager where he hopes to make a difference and boost innovation in regard to sustainability, data acquisition, and efficiency. But he’s not done learning. While working at Plexpack for the past 11 years, he has also completed an electrical engineering fundamentals program at Humber College, he’s been involved in PMMI’s Leadership Development Program, PMMI’s risk assessment course,  and he is currently completing the robotics and embedded systems program at Ryerson University.

Since you have joined Plexpack, has it been everything you had hoped for in a career? 

My time at Plexpack has been quite exciting. I have moved through a few positions starting as a mechanical designer where I was responsible for customizations to standardized equipment. During my time in this position, I found the controls end of machine design to be something I wanted to pursue further. So, I started taking night courses in electrical and software engineering. In a few years, I was the senior controls engineer at Plexpack responsible for all machinery, electrical, and software systems design. It was in this position that I found what I was most interested in as a career, bringing a team of capable engineers together to conceptualize and design automated processes.

Now that you have found your place at Plexpack, what do you love most about your position? 

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