For Dan Fernandes, his mechanical engineering degree was the ticket into a successful fluid power career.
The future of fluid power is in the hands of our young engineers and technicians. And while we all are concerned about the need for more young people in our industry, there’s great hope with the ones who are currently shaping the future.
I met one of these young engineers for the first time in 2022. Although it was our first time actually shaking hands, I felt like I knew Dan Fernandes, CFPA AI well already. He was about a decade into his career at Sun Hydraulics and was making his name known by publishing informative educational content about hydraulics on his LinkedIn page as part of his role in business development. He left Sun shortly after that but like so many fluid power professionals, it was just to move to another hydraulics company, HAWE Hydraulik. Now, he’s Vice President of Product at Hydra-Power Systems.
Dan Fernandes, now Vice President of Product at Hydra-Power Systems, has worked in fluid power since his first college internship at Sun Hydraulics.
Getting in early
While he was still a student at the University of South Florida in the Mechanical Engineering department, Fernandes jumped at a chance for a summer internship at Sun Hydraulics’ Sarasota manufacturing facility. “Steve Weber was instrumental in building this internship program and the connection to USF,” he said. “Given the pressure of finding quality, full-time employment after college, I quickly applied to the internship, interviewed, and secured the position. That internship led to an 11-year career at Sun and built a passion for fluid power solutions.”
Although he recognized there were several career paths open to him while studying engineering at University of South Florida, he learned quickly that fluid power was his future. “Mechanical engineers can design fluid power components, develop manufacturing improvements, conduct research in a laboratory environment, support customer applications, develop into front line sales engineers, and more,” Fernandes said. “The ME degree is a great ticket into the door of a fluid power company. It allowed me to pursue a customer facing role where my value proposition is product competency which helps solve customer challenges.”
Fernandes relates engineering to being a superhero, as it allows you to anticipate problems and then solve them. He encourages young engineers and students to open their eyes to the fluid power industry as it has so much to offer. “Fluid power has been called ‘The Hidden Giant.’ It is not the dream of many students to join the fluid power industry, but I believe that is because of lack of exposure or awareness,” he said. “Once you’re in fluid power, many times you stay in fluid power due to the wide range of opportunity.”
Fernandes is very active in industry associations. He volunteers as the VP of Education for the International Fluid Power Society, where educational materials are created to improve fluid power competency across the industry. He strongly advocates for the Hydraulic Specialist certification and the impact it can have on young professional’s careers. He also noted that the IFPS and National Fluid Power Association can truly help introduce third- and fourth-year engineering students to the industry and help launch their career.
Fernandes is seen recording a Sun Hydraulics new product launch video with Hydra-Power Systems.
“I am involved with the IFPS and NFPA because of the excellent work they do in promoting, educating, certifying, and standardizing our industry, as well as the events that they organize which bring fluid power colleagues together to one place,” he said.
Making a rewarding career of it
Currently, Fernandes works to continuously improve the product strategy at Hydra-Power Systems. As a fluid power solution provider, he said they succeed best when they understand the latest market trends, creatively solve fluid power challenges, and partner with leading vendors in their respective product category. The most exciting aspect is bringing new products to the Hydra-Power Systems’ team and to the OEM market, he said.
With nearly 15 years’ experience working in fluid power, Fernandes said the rewards of the industry are twofold. “First, the industry has a great network of colleagues with a long tenure in fluid power. This allows deep relationships to be formed,” he said. “The other reward is the exposure to many different technologies. From stationary manufacturing machinery to municipal trucks, and construction equipment to wind turbines, the wide variety of applications exposes fluid power colleagues to learn how manufacturing, mining, and agricultural industries operate.”
As for the biggest challenge? He said it’s simply the length of the sales cycle. You may be part of innovations but may not see them take off. “When the greatest new fluid power component is developed, it can take years to realize high volume production on OEM machinery,” he explained.
Challenges and change have a part
Fernandes noted that no career is without challenges, but if you view them in a positive light, they can bring great growth. Midway through his career at Sun Hydraulics, he relocated to Vietnam in a business development role. “It was an incredible learning experience where I had to bring the latest technology from America to the emerging markets in Southeast Asia. We were successful in bringing new proportional valve solutions to OEMs in Southeast Asia through persistent training and technical support,” he said. “The lesson learned was that industry around the world relies on hydraulic equipment. With fluid power know-how, we can help peers around the world be successful in their own careers.”
Fernandes is seen in this celebratory picture after commissioning a system for an OEM in Vietnam.
More recently, he had an opportunity to modernize a customer’s system which took some convincing. In this project, they were encouraging an OEM that was using purely manual controlled valves to switch to an electrohydraulic CAN-bus solution. “The technology is higher priced, more complex, more compact, but it provided enough value in safety, remote operation, and automation to be a viable option,” he said. “We ensured success through communication and technical support.”
He’s seen changes like this firsthand throughout his career. “For the first 10 years of my career, energy efficient products did not get much attention, as the prime mover remained a diesel engine,” he concluded. “Now with electrification and hybrid machinery, efficiency is finally being prioritized in a big way.”
Connect with Fernandes at linkedin.com/in/dan-fernandes-cfps-ai-4571a480/ or visit hpsx.com.
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