Lead Engineer and Project Coordinator · New Heights
To err is human.
To iterate is engineering.
| Rev | Description | Date |
|---|---|---|
| D | Lead Engineer and Project Coordinator · New Heights | – now |
| C | Engineering Draftsman · New Heights | – |
| B | Assembly Technician · New Heights | – |
| A | Detailer / Drafter · Scenic Ridge | – |
I solve problems and build better machines with mechanical design, hydraulics and automation. Since January 2020: cut lists for steel buildings, then the assembly floor, then nearly three years drafting in CAD. Now I’m Lead Engineer and Project Coordinator at New Heights, the company behind Equipter. I also build internal tools and agentic AI workflows for team projects.
See experience One-page resume
Auto-level holds the forks level. Turn it off to tilt them.
The sliders clamp strictly: pushing one into a limit never moves another.
Revision history · newest first
Four roles since January 2020: more than six years at New Heights, more than three of them as Lead Engineer and Project Coordinator.
My work centers on mechanical design and project coordination: I coordinate design updates and lead change initiatives across all product lines, including generation release updates for the 7000, the Tow-A-Lift and older models. I also manage control systems and integration, and I develop internal tools and create agentic AI workflows for team projects.
I drafted detailed CAD components for new products, with precision and clarity in every drawing. I raised quality standards for parts and assemblies, managed CAD model changes, and carried those changes into production.
I assembled mobile machinery and welded chassis and components on the manufacturing floor, the hands-on foundation for my drafting and engineering roles.
I created detailed material cut lists for commercial steel building projects, keeping quotes accurate and efficient, and improved the process for estimating concrete and rebar quantities for building foundations.
The story behind these four lines is below. Read the long version
Four views · in order
Four jobs, in the order I had them, each with a drawing from that work. Every view adds a layer of the same language: a list, a symbol, a sheet, a system.
View 1 · a list · Rev A · Scenic Ridge · Jan–Jul 2020
I started in January 2020 at Scenic Ridge, on buildings rather than machines. Before any steel gets cut, someone has to count every piece: its shape and its length. I made those cut lists for commercial steel buildings, and improved how we estimated the concrete and rebar for the foundations underneath.
| Mark | Qty | Description | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| C1 | 2 | COLUMN, W12×26 | 14′-0″ |
| R1 | 2 | RAFTER, W12×19 | 20′-0 13/16″ C/L |
| P1 | 10 | PURLIN, Z8×2.5, 14 GA | 25′-0″ |
| F1 | 2 | FOOTING 4′-0″ SQ × 1′-6″ | 0.89 CY EA |
| — | 20 | REBAR #5, 5 EA WAY, BOT | 3′-6″ |
| CONCRETE 1.78 CY · REBAR 70 FT · 73 LB · NET, NO WASTE | |||
| ILLUSTRATIVE. INVENTED FOR THIS DRAWING. | |||
View 2 · a symbol · Rev B · New Heights · Aug–Nov 2020
In August 2020 I joined New Heights, the company behind Equipter, as an Assembly Technician. For four months I assembled mobile machinery and welded chassis and components on the manufacturing floor. It’s where I learned how machines actually go together, and it’s the foundation for the drafting and engineering that came next.
View 3 · a sheet · Rev C · New Heights · Dec 2020 – Aug 2023
Four months later I was promoted to Engineering Draftsman, and spent nearly three years drafting: detailed CAD components for new products, and the model changes that carried them into production.
Good drawings don’t get replaced. They get revised. Watch this one change.
View 4 · a system · Rev D · New Heights · Sep 2023 – present
In September 2023 I was promoted to Lead Engineer and Project Coordinator. Most of my work is mechanical design and project coordination: design updates and change initiatives across all product lines, from concept through prototype to production. I also manage control systems and integration, where the mechanical, hydraulic and software sides of a machine have to agree.
Here’s one change, followed from the first sign of trouble to the next generation release. Step through it and watch the model, the drawing, the weekly BOM change list and purchasing move together.
INVENTED CHANGE · GENERIC BOOM HEAD
Concept. Prototype testing shows the carriage ear that carries the tilt-link pin flexing under load. A doubler plate around the pin bore is sketched as the fix.Prototype. The doubler is modeled, checked for clearance with the tilt links through the full tilt range, and welded onto the prototype carriage for a retest.Prototype. The weldment drawing goes to rev C: a revision cloud, a delta and a new line in the revision block. The doubler gets its own part drawing.Production. This week’s release goes to purchasing with a BOM change list: one new part, one revised weldment. Nothing waits for the full package.Production. Purchasing orders the doublers from the change list the same week, and the record shows them ordered.Generation release. The parts are received and the change ships in the next generation update, with every step on record.
Nothing released yet. The change goes out with the first weekly release after its drawings are approved.
| Change | Part | Qty | Purchasing |
|---|---|---|---|
| + Add | WK-2124 Doubler, tilt-link ear · rev A | 2 | OpenOrderedReceived |
| Rev | WK-2120 Carriage weldment · rev B to C | 1 | ReworkReceived |
Integration is the smaller share. One slice of it, in one figure: press a control, a valve shifts, oil flows, and the steel moves. Hold Raise or Lower.
ILLUSTRATIVE CIRCUIT · NOT ANY PRODUCT’S SCHEMATIC
Valve centered. The pump unloads to tank through the open center, and the counterbalance valve holds the load.
Illustrative values, not any product’s.
Detail views
Two towable machines I’ve worked on at New Heights, with design work and project coordination on different aspects of each, from concept through production. The specs are Equipter’s published figures, shown for scale: they describe the machines, not my part in them.
Detail A
Towable boom handler
A remote-controlled, three-stage telescopic boom on a chassis that tows to the job.
Detail B
Towable forklift
A forklift that tows behind a pickup with no trailer, then works on site in a skid-steer driving mode, by remote.
Workbench · parts list · tools and workflows
When I’m not designing machines, I build internal tools and AI workflows, usually working alongside AI coding agents. These tools are private, so exact details aren’t shared.
I built the backend: a real-time physics engine that monitors and controls load and machine stability. From the boom’s pose, the load and the slope of the ground, it solves the machine’s moment balance in three dimensions, works out how close it is to tipping, and develops the load chart automatically.
I set up an agentic workflow that releases parts to purchasing every week instead of in one package at the end. Manufacturing starts on each part as soon as it’s released, which compresses a project’s timeline from idea to finished machine. Each week the agent compares the release with the last, hands purchasing an ERP-ready BOM change list and keeps every component’s status in one place.
An engineering reference for the team: bend, torque and drawing standards in one place, every value traced to its source and status, built to open beside the model in Onshape.
General notes
I’m Wilmer King, and I’m always learning: optimizing workflows and exploring new technology that makes the work more productive.
Off the clock I read books, study physics, ride my bike and dabble in real estate.
I’m married to the lovely Mrs. Amy King.
Contact
Have a question about a machine, a drawing, or one of these tools? Send me an email.