Douglas Machining Supervisor Ben Kubis Becomes Compass Precision Employee of the Month

There are a lot of advantages to working at a large corporation. But machining at a giant firm wasn’t in the cards for Douglas Machining Services Supervisor Ben Kubis.

Hired as the first employee at Douglas, Ben has done all types of machining during his nearly 15 years at the Compass Precision operating company. To recognize his achievements, Compass has named Ben its Employee of the Month for May.

While earning a two-year tool and die degree at Minnesota Southeast Tech, Ben met Dan Douglas when he was working part time at Fastenal Company. Ben received training from Dan for a little more than three months, but Dan then left to launch Douglas Machining.

Upon Ben finishing his degree, he crossed paths again with Dan. Through his future brother-in-law, Ben learned that Douglas Machining was hiring and became the first employee at the machine shop.

“I was looking to get away from [a big company] and move into a smaller shop. Get in on the ground floor with room to grow,” said Ben. “I kind of had aspirations of having my own shop someday, maybe, and this was a good place to start — kind of see all the ins and outs of being self employed.”

Ben started as a machinist and then once the company began hiring more employees, he rose to a supervising role. Ben still runs machines, but he spends a lot more of his time involved with quoting parts, scheduling and supervising the shop floor. He says he enjoys the role because it presents something different to him everyday.

“I like the freedom of being able to move around and do multiple things versus being in a bigger shop where you can sometimes do the same job everyday over and over,” he said. “Here, we’ve got a lot of variety.”

Ben says his desire to own his own shop has waned since he left school, but clearly not his passion for machining. He likes challenges too. Ben has worked all kinds of different machines during his career with his favorite being the multi-axis mill/turn because it presents a unique challenge.

Of course, Ben fits right in at Douglas Machining with that preference, as the company has invested in eight mill/turn machines.

In his free time, Ben likes to ride through scenic Wisconsin on his Harley-Davidson. He also enjoys tinkering with the Road King model he currently owns.

Ben has been married to his wife, Jenna, for almost 11 years. The couple have a yellow lab and a black lab, appropriately named, Harley and Dyna, respectively.