Countless shops, factories, farms, and more rely on air compressors to keep their businesses running, but it requires a skilled hand to make sure those compressors continue running smoothly or to repair them in the event of a breakdown. That is where technicians like CompressAir’s Chris Meersman step in and get to work keeping businesses productive.
With 26 years of experience in the industry, Meersman is one of the most experienced members of CompressAir’s team. But prior to that, he had worked in the automotive industry – something that he found greatly benefited him – at the start of his career in compressed air.
“There are a lot of similarities between the two fields, so that’s how I got my foot in the door,” Meersman said. “Things took off quickly for me once I got started; it felt like I already knew a lot about the air compressor industry because of my experience in the automotive industry.”
Meersman spent years working in the corporate sector of compressed air until it started to wear down on his enthusiasm for the job. He joined CompressAir, which is locally owned and operated, just over 11 years ago in search of a workplace with passion for what they do and became the first technician at its Elkhart shop.
“I wanted to get into a small company, they’re a family-owned business, and I thought I’d fit in really well,” Meersman said. “It’s more personable here, you’re not a number. It’s not like a company that’s owned by a business four states away. CompressAir is local, they know your name and they take care of you.”
As a service technician, Meersman handles a wide range of responsibilities from preventative maintenance all the way to breakdowns. Since compressors power such a wide range of businesses, he is always encountering new situations and people.
“One day I could be working on an air dryer, and then today I’m doing a bunch of electrical work,” Meersman said. “It’s just never the same thing, there’s something different every day. Today I was working in a place that makes plastic materials, then tomorrow I’ll be at a factory that makes cardboard cereal boxes; there’s even one place that makes wood products like door trim. It’s from one industry to the next.”
One of his favorite parts of the job is going out on breakdown calls because that is where he can make an immediate and noticeable impact that improves a client’s day.
“On calls like that, the customer’s plant is down, and they’re losing potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars an hour,” Meersman said. “I go in there, get their machine up and running, and it just makes me look like a hero. Seeing the relief once the customer’s business is back up and running, that’s what I really love doing.”
When he is not answering calls, Meersman enjoys spending time working his 18-acre hobby farm with his wife and daughter where they raise Nigerian Dwarf goats for 4-H projects.
To learn more about CompressAir, visit compressair.net.
