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New roles will focus on future technologies

 ST. LOUIS — November 5, 2021 – Afinitas, the leading global infrastructure equipment and services company, is pleased to announce two changes to its Engineering organization that will better position the company to stay at the forefront of serving the needs of the precast concrete industry.

Matt Karnes, Director of Engineering for the Afinitas Forming Systems Division, will be transitioning to the corporate Afinitas engineering team as a Principal Engineer of Product Development. In this newly created position, Karnes will report to Dave Stoller, Afinitas Global Vice-President of Engineering.

“With his wealth of experience and ability to craft innovative solutions, Matt has the tenacity to bring new products to life,” said Stoller. “Matt will work closely with the operations groups at each of our Afinitas sites to develop our next generation forming systems product line.”

Karnes brings a wide range of engineering and leadership experience to this new position. In addition to his most recent Director position, he has served as General Manager and Engineering Manager of the Afinitas Columbus, OH, facility, and has previous industry experience as a Program Manager at Rittal Corporation, Project Leader at Honda of America, and Project Engineer at Barko Hydraulics/Pettibone Traverse Lift. He has a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Michigan Technological University. Karnes will continue to be based in Columbus.

In addition, Afinitas has promoted Jake Ballweg, to fill the Director of Engineering role for the Afinitas Forming Systems Division, vacated by Matt Karnes. He will report to Nick Wegner, Vice President of Operations for the Afinitas Forming Systems Division.

Ballweg began his career with the New Hampton, IA, team in 2018 as a Production Engineer. He has steadily taken on more responsibility as the New Hampton Engineering Site Leader and most recently as Process Engineer for the Afinitas Forming Systems Division. In his new role, Ballweg will oversee engineering design, systems, processes, and scheduling between sites. He has a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Iowa. Ballweg will continue to be based in New Hampton.

“While working with Jake as a Production Engineer and on our step change projects, he has shown many of the leadership values and skills that we need to lead our department and implement change,” said Wegner. “I am excited for Jake and look forward to working with him in his new role.”

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