Believing in the mission. Believing in each other.

At The Shyft Group, and across our family of brands, we challenge ourselves and the status quo so our customers get a better partner–across better brands–as they do what it takes to deliver. These stories demonstrate what happens when we live that mantra. The short answer? Every day, The Shyft Group, across campuses and go-to-market brands, becomes a better place to work.

Andy Pena

Receptionist
Charlotte, Michigan
19 years 10 months

Working at Spartan has been extremely rewarding. I enjoy what I do here. Greeting people in the lobby gives me a chance to meet new people every day and make the regular visitors feel at home. I also like being able to help customers who call in and need assistance and being able to get them to the right person. It’s all very rewarding and working with a group of awesome associates makes even better. I am thankful and appreciative of the opportunities that Spartan has given mean over the years.

Michael English

Network Engineer
Snyder, Nebraska

Davi Sue Sobeck

Accounts Payable Lead
Charlotte, Michigan
11 years 10 months

I like the fact that Spartan is close to home. I enjoy the flexibility of my department. I work with a great team. I like the interaction between all departments across campus.

Mark Main

Senior Product Engineer
Bristol, Indiana

Darrell Edens Jr.

Team Leader – Metal Fab – 2nd Shift
Bristol, Indiana
1 year 1 month

I came from a totally different background than manufacturing. At many times I had told myself that this was just a temporary job until I could get back into my previous career path. After spending time with the company and seeing how I personally could effect the processes. I then decided that I would try to become more and that there may be a future here for me. Positions opened up and I had applied for a few different ones. The fact that the company would interview me with the little amount of experience I had in manufacturing had me puzzled at first. The company does stay true to what they are looking for though, for me they are looking for innovators, people who can see things differently and challenge the normal way of doing things. They want to find the best way possible to be efficient and make the best possible products. The fact that they are willing to work with individuals, train, appreciate, recognize, and support their people has made it so, I no longer am looking for other career paths. I am more focused on trying to grow myself and the company, to simply be the best.

Derrick Malizia

Senior Corporate Commodity Manager
Snyder, Nebraska
2 years 1 month

While working for Spartan Motors I have been able to gain a fast amount of experience in a short amount of time. I first started in Charlotte MI in the chassis division. Spartan Motors is a fast-growing company. Within one-year Spartan acquired a second fire truck manufacturing company. I was able to transfer to work within the fire truck division at Spartan. This helped me gain more experience and has encouraged more growth in leadership within the organization.

Julie Phillips

Supervisor over Final Ship and Electrical Technicians
Charlotte, Michigan
11 years 1 month

I truly enjoy working for a company that builds vehicles to help save peoples lives. I began working for Spartan when the military was going strong. Gave me great pride to know everyday that I was helping to build something to support or county and the people fighting for our country. Have since moved on to firetruck.

Another proud moment knowing that once again Spartan is taking pride and building something to save others. The people in firetruck world put lots of pride in every truck that they touch. They realize that this too could come day be saving themselves or one of their family members. While working firetruck I have met many wonderful people who are proud to be purchasing a Spartan and take pride in the saving of lives that they also do. I am proud to say I am part of the Spartan Fire Truck team that builds for nothing but success. I look for many more years to come.

Jessica Weaver

Team Lead
Bristol, Indiana
3 years 3 months

Working for Spartan Motors has given me the opportunity to grow within. The same opportunity to advance has been given to many other employees as well. It feels good to work for a company that appreciates the hard work we all put in as a team everyday.

Jill Davy

Marketing Automation Specialist
Charlotte, Michigan
3 years 1 month

Spartan Motors has been a tremendous experience for me professionally. The breadth of our product offerings keeps the day-to-day interesting, and the opportunities for learning and growth are always available. The people I am able to interface with every day are truly amazing, from the manufacturing floor to our leadership teams, and everyone in between.

Jessica Weaver

Team Lead
Bristol, Indiana
3 years 3 months

Working for Spartan Motors has given me the opportunity to grow within. The same opportunity to advance has been given to many other employees as well. It feels good to work for a company that appreciates the hard work we all put in as a team everyday.

Jill Davy

Marketing Automation Specialist
Charlotte, Michigan
3 years 1 month

Spartan Motors has been a tremendous experience for me professionally. The breadth of our product offerings keeps the day-to-day interesting, and the opportunities for learning and growth are always available. The people I am able to interface with every day are truly amazing, from the manufacturing floor to our leadership teams, and everyone in between.

Donald Greenley

Engineering Project Coordinator
Bristol, Indiana
4 years 1 month

I started at Utilimaster (Bristol Campus) in January of 2015 as a “Designer” in the Engineering Department. This typically wouldn’t jump off of the page as a hugely positive thing, but I’ll add in that I was working two jobs at the time, had no formal college education and beyond a small portfolio of achievements didn’t actually fit the requirements for the position I came to fulfill. Two interviews and a software test later I found myself working on complex vehicle designs, working autonomously on projects that were real products for real customers and I never felt like some sort of charity case. Believe me, when you get something that you were near certain you wouldn’t, those thoughts will enter your mind now and again.

We have a lot of sayings here, many will say something to the affect of “We Know The Road…” and I’m a testament to that. Spartan knows the road to efficiency, to strength, to improvement, but for me we’ve consistently proven most of all that We Know The Road to Building a Spartan Strong Team. Spartan didn’t see a degree or lack thereof, they saw my strengths and abilities, my ethic, and before I did, they saw my place a Spartan. Today I am a Project Coordinator in the Engineering Department orchestrating anything from single vehicle reviews to fleet builds that span months throughout our manufacturing environment. I have been through Leadership training and Project Management courses because Spartan invests in their people to strengthen our team as a whole.

The Road To A Better Spartan Runs Through Me and The Road To A Better Me Runs Through Spartan! Thank you Spartan Team!

Kadee Oliver

Master Scheduler
Brandon, South Dakota
3 years 1 month

In 2015 I started out at Spartan Motors as a Tig Welder at the Brandon plant. It was the most fun work environment I have honestly ever worked in. The people are great and there is always something new to learn and build. It definitely is a very (work) family feeling environment. In 2017 I was promoted to the office, in the position I am in today as the Master Scheduler. I am very grateful that I got the opportunity to move forward with Spartan. There is always room to improve and there is always an opportunity for you to move and grow with this company and that is one of the things I love about working for Spartan, they do care and they show it. I still weld of course here and there when my team needs help and even being able to do that along with my other production responsibilities is very cool and I am very honored to call this place my Spartan Family. I think coming off of the floor not only did I bring the eyes of production workers to the office but I get to share how I felt or what I have seen and heard others do or go through. In hopes to help where others do not always see I am always happy to share my time on the floor, along with learning what it is to be a leader and how leadership works, I feel like I was at this end and now I’m at the very opposite end and I love the experience that I am getting out of the opportunity. It has been a big eye-opener for me as to what and how I was looking at things from a shop floor perspective vs a leadership perspective.

Charles Brown Jr.

Team Leader – Paint
Bristol, Indiana
15 years 1 month

When you start a career you aren’t looking to make friends or be part of a family but then before you know it you start to form relationships and bonds that blossom outside of work into lifelong friendships. We have some of the best people work for us. They’ve become a huge part of my life. So much so that I do consider them family. We tackle problems together. We work to achieve goals together. Teamwork is great but when you do it with family it becomes even better. You share pride in your job. You are more willing to help each other out. It becomes a part of who you are and makes it easier to take pride in what you do.

Will McFaul

Structural Design Engineer
Brandon, South Dakota
6 months

It’s a nice feeling knowing the hard work our team puts in to dedicate our efforts to making better products that serve a purpose in our country, and across the globe, will be utilized, appreciated, and make the world a safer place for everyone.

James McCay

Engineering Co-Op
Charlotte, Michigan
3 years 1 month

In the three years that I have been here, I have learned a lot. The people here are extremely helpful when you don’t know something. This has been a great environment to learn and grow in.

Nicholas Schaefers

Plumbing Engineer
Brandon, South Dakota
3 months

Transitioning into a new job is never easy, but with everyone’s help and welcoming attitude I feel right at home!

Casey Swensen

Plumbing Engineering Lead
Brandon, South Dakota
5 years 0 months

Spartan motors is a wonderful place to work and a point of pride for me in my professional career.

I grew up in Luverne, Minnesota where the original Luverne Fire Apparatus plant was located. It was always a point of pride within the community that we produced fire trucks used throughout the country. After my time in college I made the choice to move back home and apply my degree locally, when the opportunity arouse to join the Spartan team I pounced on it.

Around that same time, I made the decision to join my local fire department. I come from a line of firefighters, so it was very natural for me make the transition into training and give back to the community where I lived. I continue to serve on the Brandon, South Dakota Volunteer Fire Department today. I tell people that I am living the dream, not only to get a get the privilege of engineering and working with fire trucks all day long at night I also have the privilege of using these trucks in the field.

I have been with the company for going on 6 years. In that time I have seem so many outstanding trucks leave our factory and be placed into service. One thing that has stayed with me from the first day I started until now is the excitement I have when we get to work with these states of the art machine that have such an impact on so many lives around the world.

Carl Craigo

Group Leader
Bristol, Indiana
2 years 9 months

As a group leader, I get to go more in depth with units which makes me feel proud to be making one of the last hand built vehicles in the world. It makes me feel even prouder when my 5 year old sees one of our trucks and gets really excited saying, “look everyone my daddy built that truck.”