Luke schroeder

Engineering Manager
Findlay, Ohio Tire Manufacturing Plant

Cooper Tire & Rubber Company

For the past 10 years, Luke Schroeder, 30, has been with Cooper and now serves as an Engineering Manager at the Cooper manufacturing plant in Findlay, Ohio, which is adjacent to the company’s global headquarters. His manufacturing career story, in his own words, is below.

I have spent my entire professional career in manufacturing. I grew up in Northwest Ohio on a dairy farm, and was one of eight children. I knew early on in life that college was a good choice for me. So, in high school, I enrolled in the types of classes that would support a possible future in the engineering field, not quite knowing at the time which specialty area of engineering would suit me best.

As I progressed into my junior and senior years of high school, my older brother, Jason, was in college and was involved in a co-op program at Cooper Tire. He talked about how he had no idea what to expect from working in manufacturing. Yet, as he completed a few terms at Cooper, talked extensively about how much he liked the environment and enjoyed the good pay and benefits, among other things. He recommended that I also go to work in manufacturing as a solid career choice.

With this motivation, I chose to attend the University of Toledo (UT) and pursue a mechanical engineering degree. I also went on to complete co-op terms at Cooper, and shared the same impressions of the company as my brother had experienced. Once I graduated from UT, I started full-time with Cooper as a mechanical project engineer for the equipment design group. In 2016, supported by the Cooper tuition reimbursement program, I earned an MBA from the University of Findlay. The completion of my MBA pairs well with my manufacturing experience because it helps me understand the global strategic initiatives Cooper is working toward and how the work we do every day impacts our progress on these initiatives.

I have now been with the company for 10 years, and have been promoted to Engineering Manager.

I am also a member and former captain of Cooper’s Dream Team ambassador program, which is part of the company’s involvement in the national Dream It. Do It. program of the Manufacturing Institute and National Association of Manufacturers. With this, I have had the amazing opportunity to reach out into the community and share my love of manufacturing with young people, who are sometimes coached today to avoid manufacturing as a career. Yet, just as my brother advised me, I share with students that careers in manufacturing…and especially the tire industry…are exciting, involve high levels of technology and can be fun and very rewarding. I’ve made my life and career in the tire industry and am committed to sharing that message with others.