Cornerstone Automation would like to recognize Jordan Randolph for his incredible work ethic and great attitude. Jordan joined the Cornerstone team as an intern in 2016, working alongside his colleagues to build panels, create drawings, and program HMIs. Over the last few years, he started taking service calls independently leading to more frequent customer interaction and communication. He has worked his way up from intern to Controls Engineer, and now works on all parts of a project, from the discovery and quoting phase, all the way through programming and installation.
“Jordan Randolph has been a wonderful addition to our team,” stated Alan Ferrin, President of Cornerstone Automation. “He is creative, an exceptional problem solver, and always thinks outside the box. We appreciate Jordan’s positive attitude and dedication. He has proven to have strong automation skills and deductive reasoning.”
Jordan got his first introduction to industrial automation and the engineering that occurs behind the scenes when he began his internship with Cornerstone Automation as a sophomore in high school. After his first year in college, Jordan returned to work with Cornerstone as an intern during his summer and winter breaks. While in college, Jordan continued working on many different engineering projects including building the front and back ends of a website from scratch, and designing, programming, and testing a 3D printed monofilament extrusion line. In the Spring of 2022, he graduated from Pennsylvania State University with a bachelor’s degree in Electro-Mechanical Engineering Technology and joined Cornerstone Automation full-time.
Born and raised in Telford, PA, Jordan is the eldest of four with two sisters and a brother. Jordan’s mother homeschooled Jordan and his siblings all the way through 12th grade before rejoining the workforce as an accountant for a home improvement contractor. His father is a machinist who works in CAD and programs CNC mills.
Jordan has always been an engineer at heart. He loves discovering how things work and working to improve upon them when possible. As an adolescent, Jordan built with K’nex in his free time, winning several building competitions. When he was 14, he began working at a car wash, and by the time he turned 15 he had recreated the car wash out of LEGO Mindstorms and K’nexs right down to including running water through the use of LEGO pneumatics!
On the rare occasion that he needs a break from engineering, Jordan appreciates spending time outdoors with his girlfriend hiking and kayaking, or the challenge of solving escape rooms with his family. Jordan also volunteers at his church by fixing and operating their sound system.
During his career so far at Cornerstone, several projects have stood out as significant to Jordan. A Rotomolder Controls Upgrade for the chemical and plastics industry is the first project Jordan worked on independently since he graduated and began working full time, and it is also the most complicated. This project is significant for a variety of reasons, but the most important aspect for Jordan is the fact that he has been able to work through each aspect of the project from beginning to end. Starting with the discovery phase, moving on to create drawings, and ultimately programming the PLC and HMI. Jordan reflects, “I really enjoyed going through the entire process on this project. It really helped solidify years of learning to finally apply so much all into one place.”
Another project that stands out to Jordan, was working on seven panels for a conveyor system in the protein industry. He worked on this project last year while interning for Cornerstone. When discussing the importance of this project Jordan stated, “Although this was technically a simpler project that required no PLC or HMI, this was the first project that I designed and built independently.” This project was made up of 7 panels with the intent to control 3 different types of infeed conveyors each utilizing three to five motors. As an intern, this was a pretty major project to undertake. He sat down with the customer, got the specifications, generated a quote, created drawings, and built and tested each panel. “I appreciated this project because it was the first time working on a project of this scale by myself, and it was the first time I had to deal heavily with the customer to get input and feedback,” Jordan recalled.
From the beginning of his career with Cornerstone, Jordan has assisted with projects at a 10-line wholesale bakery in New Jersey. This particular customer has always stood out as a favorite for him. As he puts it, “I have always enjoyed working on or even simply looking over these projects because they are all very elegantly engineered. Their projects always provide great learning opportunities and act as excellent references for other projects I work on.”
When asked what he likes the best about working at Cornerstone, Jordan says that he enjoys both the job and his coworkers. He states, “Because we are contractors, we get to work on a variety of projects, anywhere from bakeries, meat packing, and bottling plants to wire drawing plants or recycling plants. There are so many different machines we work on, at all different levels of complexity.” He loves being part of the Cornerstone team. “Everyone takes pride in the work that we do, and really strives to do the best that we can. We collaborate on our projects when needed by providing ideas and assistance.”
“I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at Cornerstone Automation,” reflects Jordan. “It has been really nice to put into practice all of the things that I have learned over the past couple of years, and to work with colleagues who share my passion for completing projects as efficiently as possible and to the best of their abilities.”