Desiree Antras - NPI Engineer
Desireé Antras is responsible for the validation process on new products and works directly with our customers to ensure we are meeting product needs and requirements.
As an NPI Engineer at PTA Plastics, what are your daily responsibilities? What impact does your role have on our organization?
I am currently responsible for the validation process on new products. I am also a member of our 2030 team. My day-to-day consists of setting up metrology requests for completed sample jobs and analyzing the data that comes from those requests. I work with our customers to make sure any quality concerns they may have get addressed before we move to the next step in the validation process. I then use this data to generate reports for our customers to sign-off on the validation. As a member of the 2030 team, I have the privilege to work with a team of my colleagues to impact changes that benefit the continued growth of PTA. This is one of the best parts of my job because I get to see and participate in bettering PTA for our employees and customers for the future.
What are you most excited about working at PTA Plastics and why?
My favorite part about PTA is the fact that I have some set things I work on every day, but no day is exactly alike. Sometimes I have a schedule and it gets derailed completely; I guess you could say I like the controlled chaos of my day-to-day!
Tell us something that people might not know about you.
Something you might not know about me is that I am an avid rock/mineral/fossil collector. I have close to 200 pieces in my (still growing) collection. I started collecting rocks when I was really young, picture that 4 year old kid that brings home rocks from the playground; I just never stopped when I grew up. I have rocks from all 44 states I’ve visited (I plan to have them from the other 6 I’m missing too). Every time I visited a new state, I would pick up a rock to bring home, even it meant stopping on the side of the road as we were passing through. The coolest mineral I have in my collection is called goethite, which is a 2 inch cube of iron(III) oxide-hydroxide. Basically a big word for pyrite (aka fool’s gold) that’s been weathered down in iron rich soil. I collected this on a mountain just outside of Eagle, CO. The reason for my collection now is that I finally understand the processes it took to create the rocks/minerals I collect and I want to have pieces of each process. My goal is to have most of my collection be pieces I have dug out of the ground myself.
Can you tell us some fun facts about yourself?
Hometown? Lawrenceburg, IN
Favorite Book? 11/22/63 by Stephen King
Favorite Movie? O Brother, Where Art Thou? and Ford v. Ferrari, I can’t decide my favorite, they are both great for different reasons!
Favorite Vacation Spot? Petrified Forest/Painted Hills in AZ so far. My vacations generally lead to a place we haven’t visited in the US yet.
Favorite Hobbies? Video Games, Dungeons and Dragons, Rock Collecting, Reading
Favorite Games? Some of my favorite video games to play are Overwatch 2, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow 6: Siege, Valorant, Stardew Valley, and Pokémon: GO
Favorite Food? Chocolate Brownie Lasagna from Olive Garden
Weekend Fun Activities? In the warm months, I go on rock/mineral field trips into the mountains with the Colorado Mineral Society. In the winter, I mostly play video games or take my dogs to parks for them to play with friends.