Applications Design Engineer Nikki Achor began her career at GAF Energy as an intern after graduating from college and going through a life-altering diagnosis: “I was going through cancer treatment and then I started here and I was kind of just trying my best, asking other engineers questions, getting help from the shop managers, basically just going through the whole learning process,” recalled Achor, who is now a key member of the research and development (R&D) team with an issued patent and pending patent application in her name for a solar shingle staging device.
Nikki’s story highlights the innovative culture at GAF Energy. At GAF Energy, all employees are encouraged to submit innovative ideas for our products. Operationally, the patent committee will accept invention disclosures from anyone within the company. Just in the course of developing Timberline Solar™, our team has secured dozens of patents and patent applications, lifting up the solar energy and roofing industries. Due to Timberline Solar™’s innovative and unique structure, the GAF Energy R&D team knew that they had to come up with some kind of product to house the material and to stage it on the roof. According to Senior Design Applications Engineer Mike Kuiper, many roofing mediums usually have a way to stage materials on the roof. For example, tile stacks on battens and shingles are bundled as they go over the ridge. “Securing the materials was really something that was a concern of ours,” Kuiper said.
A material staging bracket would ensure the safety and efficiency of transferring the Timberline Solar™ materials needed from different work centers to the assembly location. Achor was given the opportunity to lead this innovative project, working through the tedious process from the design to the deliverable product. Achor recalls it was a long journey and a huge learning process with lots of trial and error. She designed the brackets in the CAD program SolidWorks, a solid modeling computer-aided design and computer-aided engineering application. “We need this [bracket] because it’s super useful to stage our products in a safe way and provides easy access to our products during installations, which makes installations go faster,” Achor said.
Achor is very grateful for the support and encouragement she received with GAF Energy. This project was her first time designing something of this magnitude, and she couldn’t believe her hours of hard work had finally paid off.
“It was super cool to see how our idea turned into a real, physical thing that wasn’t just a prototype for a school project, but was something that would be used by others out in the world,” Achor said.
According to Design Applications Engineering Manager Evan Wray, the decision to build and develop this staging bracket for use beyond the laboratory environment took considerable consideration. Did it make sense to bring to the outside world? Was it worth the resources? Were roofers actually going to want to use it?
“All of us eventually decided, ‘Yes, we do need it,’” Wray said. “Otherwise we could have modules breaking, go rolling down the roof, get damaged, or present other risks. So we knew that this was something that roofers and installers were going to want.”
One of the most rewarding aspects for Achor and other innovators at GAF Energy is the opportunity to be identified as an inventor on a patent for something that you create. As Wray emphasized, “There’s all kinds of cool patents that our names are all over and it’s just about how we’re able to harness and to tap into that creative energy here and do something that’s impactful, to be a part of changing this industry. It’s really cool and really exciting. It’s an awesome opportunity.”
Achor and the team are very excited that their idea of a material staging bracket, or “solar stager,” as they have coined it, has finally come to life. They know that it will be very valuable and desired amongst roofers. Achor’s stager invention highlights the collaboration and satisfaction involved in turning ideas into a real, physical thing. “Your ideas are valued here,” Achor said. “You can present an idea and actually go and work towards that idea.”
Interested in joining the team? Check out our open positions at www.gaf.energy/careers.