Five engineers, whole projects
Everyone here designs, builds, and stands behind their own work. Here’s who you’ll actually be working with — direct lines included.
Mark Lanser
BSME, Calvin College
Mark’s machine-building career started in 1991, when he became Extol’s first full-time engineer while still a sophomore in college — concepting, designing, building, wiring, programming, and debugging machines end to end. He founded True North Design in 2000 and has spent 30+ years in the machine-build world. Today he works across a variety of design and build projects.
Brian Talaga
Michigan Technological University, 2002
Brian has been in machine automation since 2002 and with True North since 2007 — the senior hand on the team. He’s known for carrying multiple complex projects at once, and has developed machines for extremely demanding production lines involving laser, bending, gantry, and oven technology.
Brad Lanser
BSME, Calvin College, 2019
Brad joined True North in 2021 from machine-design work at another builder. He takes on the jobs with complex surfacing and heavy motion — cooling fixtures, hydraulics, custom belts and AC motors, and large systems that run to 150 feet and beyond.
Ben Casey
BSME, Calvin University, 2023
Ben started as an intern in 2022 and went full-time in 2023. He designs and builds most of True North’s end-of-arm tooling, travels to support it at customer plants, and manages the press-side automation and integration that goes with it.
Michael Lanning
BSME, Calvin University, 2024
Michael started as an intern in 2023 and went full-time in 2024. His work spans rapid prototyping of products headed to market, complex bending operations with tight requirements, and small-to-mid-size assembly machines.
Have a project in mind?