This month, we are highlighting team member Joe Arcangeletti, who is a mechanical sales engineer based out of our Lake Zurich, Illinois, facility. A recent graduate, he works with customers to design and engineer components tailored to meet the unique demands of heavy truck applications.
What drew you to a career in mechanical engineering, and how did that path lead you to your current role in heavy truck sales at CCTY?
I was drawn to mechanical engineering by my fascination with moving components and a desire to understand how they work. This really began with my passion for the automotive industry at a young age, which inspired me to learn more about how vehicles operate. My parents encouraged me to explore engineering in high school through Project Lead The Way (PLTW) courses, which solidified my decision to pursue mechanical engineering in college—aligning my studies with my automotive interests. Beyond engineering, I’ve always enjoyed connecting and communicating with people, with the hope that I can deliver some value into their lives. After graduating, this combination of technical expertise and interpersonal skills led me to a career in sales. Heavy truck sales at CCTY felt like a natural fit, as it allows me to work with components similar to those in the vehicles I’ve been passionate about since childhood.
As a recent graduate, what has been the biggest learning curve as you’ve put your mechanical engineering education into practice in the heavy truck industry?
One of the biggest learning curves so far has been navigating the vast amount of knowledge gained through my mechanical engineering degree and identifying what is most relevant to my work at CCTY. As a recent graduate, it’s exciting to have the opportunity to translate the textbook ideology that I’ve learned in college into real-world applications.
How does your mechanical engineering background give you an edge in understanding and meeting customer needs in the heavy truck industry?
My mechanical engineering background gives me a strong foundation for understanding and addressing customer needs in the heavy truck industry. It has provided me with in-depth knowledge of design principles, material properties and structural integrity, allowing me to assess the impact of design modifications. This foundational knowledge has helped me to collaborate more effectively with customers, ensuring that any design changes enhance performance, durability and safety while meeting their specific requirements.
What excites you most about working with CCTY’s products in the heavy truck industry, and are there any new innovations you’re particularly passionate about?
CCTY has a unique feature that most companies do not have. Everything we do—from engineering and manufacturing to testing—is all done in-house. This allows us to maintain very strict parameters throughout the whole process to guarantee the best quality components. Most importantly, we specialize in fully custom solutions that are tailored to customers’ exact specifications. This is one of the reasons why our products perform so well.
In the heavy truck industry, many steering and suspension components have remained unchanged for years. However, the technology we offer can provide the same or even better performance while extending the lifespan of these critical parts. Knowing that our products not only enhance performance for manufacturers but also improve reliability for end users is incredibly rewarding for me. Personally, I can only stand confidently behind a product if I know it actually delivers real value for all parties involved—and that’s what excites me most.
What advice would you give to other recent engineering graduates considering a career that blends technical knowledge with sales?
I would advise newer graduates to be ready to learn a lot. As with many things when starting out, it is a learning process—not only the engineering aspect but how a business actually operates. This is most likely foreign to many engineers who are just graduating. If you are an engineer who’s considering sales, it is extremely important that you can explain the technical knowledge to others. This is something that is not practiced often throughout engineering school, and something that is crucial in the real-world application.
To learn more, visit: www.cctygroup.com/key-markets/heavy-truck-bearings
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