In school, I liked Math and Science and was always mechanically inclined. I remember I once took a four wheeler, cut it up, swapped out the motor and rebuilt it. Even though I was young, I always welcomed the challenge of taking stuff apart and putting it back together again.
Engineering as a career was sort of a natural path. After I received my degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Maine, I started my career as a Project Manager at the Advanced Manufacturing Center at UMaine and continued into the world of product development and manufacturing engineering.
Throughout my job experiences, I noticed we were running into a lot of situations where we needed machines to do specific tasks, but the people who had to run them were not necessarily trained machinists or skilled in that way. That observation was one of the catalysts that led me to start my own business.
Besides being a licensed professional engineer, I am also the CEO/CTO at Element Machine Tools, but those titles are kind of boring. People also call me technical guy, floor sweeper, chief operator or “enginerd”.
Most people don’t realize that everything you touch and handle needs to be made by something. We make stuff run by a computer that's sole job is to make your stuff. These affordable, easy-to-use industrial CNC machines are built to exceed the demands of designers, engineers and machinists.
We develop new products, improve old ones and create innovative manufacturing processes to increase quality and efficiency. What I love is that we’re not specific to what we’ll create, so we’ve created computer controlled automated manufacturing equipment to create things like firearm parts, automotive parts, aerospace parts, and even machines that make rivets through jeans.
Through the years, we’ve been really grateful for the banks’ support. We actually met SBSI through a speed networking event for businesses and banks. They were willing to work with us and liked what we had. It’s been a really great match and we’re happy we made the decision to stick with them.
Their belief in us has been huge. I love my job and really enjoy interacting with customers on a regular basis. The act of designing a product and seeing your customers' reactions is the most rewarding part of my career. That’s my biggest motivator: If the customers are happy, I’m happy.
— Thomas Lamontagne, CEO/CTO Element Machine Tools LLC
Thank you, Thomas, for all you do and for all the years you’ve been by our side. We appreciate the service you provide and are happy to highlight you as the Saco Branch Customer of the Month!
