Congrats to Protomatic’s Dave Wetzel On His Retirement

Dave Wetzel, Protomatic Vice President-Sales Manager, retired from his full-time duties on May 28, 2021. His responsibilities were transitioned to Doug Wetzel and Scott Allen.

Dave started with Protomatic in 1971 helping his dad by punching out parts in the family basement. In the following years, his career has been challenging and fulfilling, to say the least.

He has been involved with producing parts that have traveled on the lunar lander to the moon, gone to Mars, and journeyed beyond Pluto on the New Horizon Satellite. In fact, one of Dave’s business cards was included in a space capsule that rocketed to the Karman Line, 62 miles up in space. Safe to say, his sales territory went far beyond anyone else we know.

Dave is extremely proud of the fact that he has had the honor to work on space and satellite projects for major contractors. Most recently, he has been working on large load vehicle projects scheduled for 2023 launch.

Before Dave got so involved in the aerospace industry, he supported automotive development projects for major automotive manufacturers, as well as supporting major prime ground transportation projects in instrumentation and powertrain.

While Dave will still be involved with Protomatic, and will be meeting with management and staff monthly, he’ll have his hands full elsewhere with a 60-acre farm. He loves to garden but has fought a never-ending battle with deer. The deer won. So, he plans to build a greenhouse where he can grow everything from oranges and bananas to vegetables.

Please join us in wishing Dave all the best in retirement. He’s certainly earned it.

About the author: Doug Wetzel is Vice President and General Manager of Protomatic. Protomatic is a CNC precision machining shop specializing in prototype and short-run production components for the medical, aerospace and other technical industries. Because of the critical nature of the parts they design and manufacture, the emphasis is always on Life-Saving Precision.