When Barb Schoeneman was young, she spent hours with her father learning how to use saws, a lathe, and other implements of his trade as a toolmaker. “He told me I should take the drafting course in high school because it seemed like something I might like,” she says. As it turned out, he was right. “We drew designs by hand (on the board) then, so it was a very artistic process. It really suited me.”

She went on to earn her Associate’s in Drafting from Genesee Community College, where she was the only woman in the program. Barb moved quickly and easily through projects and earned a cooperative experience with Taylor Instruments. After graduation, she went on to work at P&R Industries for a year before joining Kayex, Linton’s predecessor, as a drafter and detailer. In January, she celebrated her 39^th year with the company.

Barb is now a mechanical designer, responsible for drawing and designing parts and making sure they’re implemented into the company’s database. As Linton develops new machines capable of producing larger ingots, she is often responsible for resizing parts for each new update. While her work has moved from a drafting table to the SolidWorks® CAD program, Barb still enjoys the artistic aspect of creating designs and is meticulous about her work. “Once someone called to ask me a question, he noted that my drawings were really nice and easy to read. That was great to hear,” she says. Of course, she also appreciates the many opportunities she has to flex her brain to solve a design challenge.

Over the course of her career, she has worked on every part of a CZ grower, in multiple sizes and configurations. While her love of art and design brought her to Linton, she says the people are a large part of what keeps her here. “It’s more of a small, family environment and I really enjoy it,” she explains.