We recently had a chance to speak with one of our experienced sales team members, Gene Bendien. He spoke to us about his career, experiences, and gave some advice for aspiring combustion engineers.
“I’m actually not an engineer, I don’t have an engineering degree. However, I’ve been working with combustion systems since 1972. I’ve been on both sides of the business; as a seller, and as a buyer. I started out working for a company in downtown Chicago that sold drying equipment to places like coal prep plants. I also worked at a company that built big furnaces.
Before that, I had worked for Keebler in their engineering department. I’ve also worked in Indianapolis for 10 years, and another 10 in Birmingham selling burners. In 2013 I retired from a burner manufacturer and that’s when Steve called me and asked me to come aboard at Olsträd.
Probably the biggest challenge I faced coming to Olsträd has been selling foreign made parts in the U.S.A. People in the U.S.A. want to buy American-made products, and they tend to be brand loyal, too. However, the Italian manufacturers we’re partnered with make really high quality products. They have excellent aluminum castings, solid coils, low amps, etc. The delivery times are great as well.
My favorite part about working at Olsträd is the people. If you don’t like the people you work with, it’s tough to do a good job. But I also love combustion— no two plants are the same, it’s different every day.
That means you really need solid fundamentals if you’re going to work in combustion. It’s different now for young people. Before, people used to work on their own equipment—tractors, car engines, that sort of thing. They developed a natural sense for how combustion processes worked. Nowadays, people don’t work on their engines so much. So if you’re an aspiring combustion engineer, make sure you really learn the fundamentals.
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