Snapshot

Jennelle Carlier S3 Wireform Inc.

Name: Jennelle Carlier

Company: S3 Wireform Inc., Swift Current, Saskatchewan, Canada. Brief history of your company: S3 Wireform Inc. has been designing and manufacturing custom steel springs for agricultural OEMs since 1966. We have specialty engineering, process, and application knowledge, in addition to the capacity and expertise to include sub-assemblies and a powder coating facility. Job title: Production Manager. Spring industry affiliations: SMI board, Canadian representative. Birthplace: Val Marie, Saskatchewan. Current home: Swift Current, Saskatchewan.

Family: Husband, Curtis Thingvold, daughters, Aspen, 9 and Sage, 6. We will be getting a new puppy in January. We also have many house plants that are treated like family. What I like most about being a springmaker: Getting to know the customers, understanding their needs and helping them design and find solutions have always been things I enjoy. Solving problems and finding new ways to make production more cost-effective is my main focus, and I really like a challenge. Favorite food: As a foodie, it’s hard to pinpoint a favorite. I’m from a ranch family, so I love to cook up a good steak. I love poke bowls, anything with fresh avocado, yummy cheeses and am a bit of a kettle-popped buttered popcorn junkie. Red wine. Favorite books/authors: “The Power of One” by Bryce Courtenay; “Pride & Prejudice” and pretty much anything Jane Austen. Currently reading “No Friend but the Mountains” by Behrouz Boochani. I’m presently part of a sponsorship group to bring two Iranian Kurdish refugees that are incarcerated in Papua New Guinea to Canada. Behrouz went through a similar journey and wrote his book via text message on a smuggled phone. Favorite song/musician: Anything I can sing along to! I seem to like a more relaxed vibe lately. Missy Higgins, Sara McLachlan and Andrea Ramolo.

Hobbies: Volleyball, acrylic painting, reading and wake surfing. Favorite places: Saskatchewan Landing Provincial Park where we lease a campsite. It’s our happy place. Australia, where I lived for five years, and Quebec, where my mother’s entire family lives. Best times of my life: Growing up on the farm. Hometown dances and dancing with my grandfather and father to old-time music. The weekends at the Saskatchewan Landing with my family and friends, with good food, laughs and a board game or two while all the kids go wild. The one thing I can’t stand is: Clutter. You’d never know by my office desk, however.

My most outstanding qualities are: Finding the good side in people. I don’t let the crowd sway me if I feel strongly about doing the right thing. Problem-solving abilities. I knew I was an “adult” when: I worked through summers to pay my own university tuition and supplies, and then to fund international travel.

If I weren’t working at S3 Wireform Inc., I would like to: Learn more about different manufacturing companies: what and how they track for metrics, different quality and ERP systems. Role models: My father; he’s a champion for others and my go-to for advice. My mother, who battled cancer and won just this year. Joe Gallant, the general manager, LEAN manufacturing guru and the person who schools me on how to get things done and to hit targets I didn’t think imaginable. I would like to be remembered in the spring industry for: Showing that young women have a place in management of the production floor and be great at it! But people will probably remember me for: Being a jack of all trades, always smiling and pushing to learn. Maybe being a little bossy…but definitely a team player: let’s get it done!