Byron Shetler

Mathematics major
Physics major
Class of 1983

(2/20/2014) We often use GC students for internships, although my son Jacob has been “hogging” the opportunities the last three summers.

I was a Math and Physics major at GC. I sat on the committee that developed the Computer Science minor in 1982. I’m not sure when a major was first offered. I took a couple of programming classes and was intrigued by the interaction between computers and my majors.

I did my student teaching in Math at South Bend Adams, but got sidetracked after that. I began programming computers after my last semester of college (the IBM PC was just released) and have been working at Hertzler Systems for 30 years. We make statistical software and have advanced methods for collecting data. Companies that use are software include Kraft Foods, Hormel Foods, Snyder’s of Hanover, Titleist (golf balls), Bose (speakers), Darden (Red Lobster and Olive Garden), and K2 (snow skis).

I have held a number of positions and responsibilities at Hertzler Systems in programming, product management, technical support, internal information systems, and website management. I have worked with hundreds of companies in a wide variety of industries implementing quality data (SPC) solutions. Work has included system setup and integration with ERP systems, device (gauge/PLC/scales) interfaces, and database connectivity (MySQL, Oracle, MS SQL Server). I assist in gathering feedback and ideas for product development by working with customers and by participating in user group meetings and usability testing. I also get to write some code from time to time!

A new hire is Lucas Godshalk who graduated last spring. He does programming for us.

One of our iPad apps, GS Collect, is used by GC to collect water quality data. A local company, Smokercraft, uses it to inspect the quality of the boats they produce.

In the early 1990’s, I was able to use some of my math skills when we developed the first software system that was able to model and accurately calculate SPC statistics for non-normal data distributions.