Made in Stanly Spring 2020 | Page 11

China has also impacted PLP.  Though the job can at times be demanding, Ziebarth said he enjoys knowing that the products PLP produces often get sent to areas recovering from disasters. “Everybody wants to be able to help somebody if they can,” he said.  Products function like Chinese finger traps. The wires go through a machine which coats it with a special coating and forms the unique helical shape. The wires are shaped in such a way as to be secure enough to withstand any type of resistance, whether it be weather-related or even animal-related. Ziebarth said the wires are engineered in a similar fashion to the popular children’s gag toy, the Chinese finger trap. The finger trap is a puzzle that traps people’s fingers in both ends of a small cylinder woven from bamboo. The more a person pulls on one side of the trap, the tighter the other side becomes. “When you have conductors sitting on top of an insulator, you don’t want it going one way or the other,” Ziebarth said, “and so they use the helical concept because as one side pulls, the other side gets tighter -- so it stabilizes it...the harder you pull, the tighter it gets. It’s about the people When asked what’s his favorite part about working at PLP, Swarigen mentioned his peers.  “I just enjoy the people I work with,” he said. “It’s a good group of people I work with.” PLP has an education reimbursement program where employees can receive degrees while working for the company. Swaringen was able to utilize the company’s education reimbursement program to receive his bachelor’s degree, Ziebarth said.  Ziebarth also said interacting with employees was his favorite part of the job. He enjoys seeing how younger and older generations embrace and adapt to technological changes within the industry.  “It’s enriching and rewarding to see employees grow and blossom and be empowered and to achieve their own personal self-actualization,” he said. “That’s a manager’s quest. Made in Stanly Magazine | 2020 11