Engineering Ingenuity

“It's always rewarding seeing your ideas make it into products and get shipped to the field,” says Colin Hasburgh, a Staff Design Engineer in the Advanced Group at Sub-Zero. “It is why you are here: to get it right.”

Hasburgh’s journey to Sub-Zero started just over 30 miles from the Fitchburg, Wisconsin, headquarters in a small cornfield-studded town called Blanchardville. “It is small, around 800 people, and really beautiful,” he says. After high school, he attended the Milwaukee School of Engineering, where he earned a degree in electrical engineering.

It was also where he met his wife, Laura. Together, the young engineers found jobs in their fields in the northern suburbs of Chicago, then relocated to Florida before luck in the form of two ideal positions in the Madison area brought them back to Wisconsin. “My wife has a doctorate in material science and works for the Forest Products Laboratory,” says Hasburgh. “She is a materials research engineer there and studies aspects of building materials and fire. It’s really cool and very interesting.”

Hasburgh also finds his work at Sub-Zero fascinating. Beginning as a member of the design team for the New Product Group in 2010, he segued into the Advanced Product Group seven years later. “The Advanced Product Group focuses on what’s next in terms of product feature innovations,” he says. “We're always looking for that new capability that's going to enable our products to be the best products on the market. We have a really wide view of the product landscape.”

He explains that his role also requires paying close attention to a variety of industries to gauge innovations and technologies as they arise. “Part of the responsibilities of the job is to be aware of what's going around and pick up on things that other industries are doing that haven't made it into appliances yet,” says Hasburgh. “It is our job to ask: How can I use this type of technology in a new way? How do we take what we see in other products and then bring that into refrigeration?” He gives an example of the automotive market. “What they have been accomplishing with touch screen displays sets the expectations for some possibilities for similar interfaces in appliances.”

“There are various iterations of the process depending on the product,” says Hasburgh. “One example is when we redesigned the 48" PRO touch displays.” He explains that they had an internal touch panel, but his team explored creating one for the exterior of the product. “We already had displays there, so we thought we could include a great touch panel that would work well for the customer.” Hasburgh says they took that concept through a “definition team”  and mocked up what it might look like. “That's part of our role, too, the prototype,” he adds. “Some people can get a feel for the vision, but it's a lot easier to convey that vision with a hands-on prototype.”

Listening to customer feedback is another vital aspect of his position. “We clearly need to hear from both managers and product owners,” he says. “And we always consider how our new idea might fit in with all the other projects.” He delineates the three “big buckets” that his team has to think about. “There is the business viability: Is this who we are as a company? Then, there is tech feasibility: Does this technology meet the needs? And then there is consumer insight: Does customer input justify the project?”

Some of Hasburgh’s work takes him away from the lab to learn about consumer products as they launch. “I will regularly go to expos, like the Consumer Electronics Show or IFA in Europe. Manufacturers present their best products and newest innovations at these events.” He says he finds himself watching the industry and watching competitors to understand what is coming up on the horizon. “I often discover concepts that challenge me to think about innovation for Sub-Zero products.” 

Despite his busy work schedule, Hasburgh carves out plenty of family time. He and Laura have two young children, and they spend their weekends enjoying the outdoors as much as possible. “We live on the outskirts of Madison in a little city that has a small-town vibe,” he says. “There is a really nice river going through town, so we like getting down on the water—kayaking and canoeing. We also take out the bikes, or go sledding in the winter.” He mentions that his daughter, who is 10, already loves math. “She is really good at it and enjoys it. So we will see where that takes her. Maybe another engineer in the family, but who knows?”

When he gets a chance, he indulges another passion: motorcycling. “Occasionally, I'll try to sneak away,” he says. “I’m in a local club, and we ride adventure motorcycles, on-road and off-road bikes.” He recently went with some of his motorcycle friends on a camping adventure in Colorado. “It was an awesome seven-day trip in the mountains on off-road trails, camping off the motorcycles.”

Back at Sub-Zero, Hasburgh says he appreciates the entire team he works with and the amazing opportunities to invent something new and meaningful for the company. “The process can be exhausting, but I feel that makes having a successful product launch so much sweeter. It completes the journey in a really rewarding way.”