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Article

World Engineering Day 2026: “Problem Solving is Always About Connection”

People & Culture

Doug Plester, Manufacturing Engineer, Polycon Industries
March 04, 2026
3-min read

From growing up on an Ontario farm without running water to helping deploy advancements in robotics, automation and the Factory of the Future, Magna engineer Doug Plester is wired to ask why.

“That early inspiration shows up in my work through a constant drive to understand how things function, how they can be improved and how technology can transform everyday life,” said Plester, a 24-year Magna veteran and manufacturing engineer at Canada’s Polycon division.

To Plester, engineering is about “hands-on knowledge, from the shop floor on up.”

We talked to him about straddling two industrial eras, what it means to be a Magna engineer, and why World Engineering Day 2026 is worth celebrating.

"We’re celebrating the creative energy we bring to move forward."

Tell us about your childhood and how that informs your work today.

I grew up on a 100-acre cattle farm with a well and an outhouse in Flesherton, Ontario. We were always fixing things because you don’t have mechanics on standby. I worked on old-style threshing machines with belt drives and the water wheel in our town still chopped grain at the mill. My dad’s friend had a junkyard where I would explore and reuse stuff I’d find there.

I learned about sustainability and innovative solutions. We had an old tractor-trailer on the farm. We took out the driveshaft and used the engine and transmission to make a stationery power plant to blow corn into the silo. You learn independence on a farm. If something goes wrong, you figure it out and make it work. A lot of engineering is living the experience.

How would you describe your problem-solving today at Magna?

I’m on the assembly side, working on complex processes to build liftgates, fascias and pillars for vehicles. We have technology like robots and predictive maintenance, but problem solving is always about connection. Engineering is listening to operators, customers, suppliers and maintenance people. You get everybody involved. In some ways, I’m a big coordinator. You coordinate everybody’s ideas and thoughts and make things better.

What does it mean to be an engineer at Magna?

One Magna means we solve problems together. You share the work and you always have the resources. There’s cross-group collaboration. Polycon is a Magna Exteriors division, but we brought in a great idea from Magna Powertrain. They were using contact pressure films to test and tighten gaskets. It’s a simple quality test. The tape helps reveal imperfections in alignment or pressure because trapped air shows where the bond isn’t consistent. We used it to prove a body-molding machine was square and getting equal pressure during manufacturing. It was a simple solution for troubleshooting alignment. It’s great to solve a problem and it’s gone. It’s a eureka moment to find the real issue.

What are we celebrating on World Engineering Day?

We’re celebrating the creative energy we bring to move forward. It’s a big team and we’re all important. It’s not just about engineers. We make the operators feel that way, too. They’re the ones who tell you how to make things better.