STEFFES SPOTLIGHT: Brian Nibbe

Published July 6, 2021

Brian Nibbe crossed the three-year mark with Steffes this past April. He was hired in 2018 as a manufacturing engineer and still retains that title today. Brian was described by colleagues as a hard worker that is willing to help wherever needed and is the perfect example of Steffes’ core value of integrity. Before Steffes, Brian attended North Dakota State University where he majored in mechanical engineering. After graduating from NDSU, Nibbe worked for a company in Wahpeton in an engineering role.

“Engineering gave me the opportunity to design and build items that I found interesting,” said Nibbe. “Steffes has a good diversity of products and is willing to shift product lines to customer requirements.” 

Brian had quite a few reasons why he chose to work at Steffes and what has kept him here. One big factor is never having a typical day. He enjoys not knowing what each day is going to bring, which keeps the job fresh.

“Every day is different,” said Nibbe. “I could spend one day in the office designing and the next in the shop welding.” 

The pandemic changed things for a lot of people including Brian. Before COVID-19, Nibbe was heavily involved with engineering for assembly and now he spends the majority of his time troubleshooting welding and machine problems, working on projects to create fixtures and innovative solutions to improve the efficiencies in our manufacturing processes. 

Brian is also helping with the implementation of the DOT certified cargo tanks that Steffes recently took on. Steffes recently became one of the few certified cargo tank facilities in the Midwest. Brian is excited for the future that the new DOT certification opens for the company.

One of Brian’s favorite projects that he has been a part of at Steffes is getting the submerged arc welder (SAW) up and running and then bringing in new products that utilize the technology. He is looking forward to the design engineer roles that are coming to Grand Forks as Steffes expands and continues to leverage our proximity to the University of North Dakota in attracting top engineering talent.

In his free time, Brian enjoys keeping busy with house remodeling projects as well as spending time outdoors hunting and fishing.