APPLETON, Wis. — With gloved hands, Josh Schingen carefully removed stickers and gave a brand-new windshield a thorough wipe down as he prepared to install it.
He’s an auto glass technician with Tri City Glass & Door in Appleton. Schingen has been with the company for eight years and sees a variety of work each day.
“It’s windshields, corner glasses, door glasses, any kind of glass on a vehicle,” he said. “I’ve worked on everything from a Model A up to a Lamborghini.”
Schingen works in the shop at Tri City’s Appleton location, but he’s frequently doing work in the field too. He goes where he’s needed.
“I take pride in knowing I treat this vehicle as my own,” Schingen said. “How do I want the job done? How do I want it installed? It’s going about it that way and that it’s done well.”
Tri City has locations in Appleton and Green Bay.
Human Resources Manager Ann Herman said the business is looking for people in careers ranging from auto glass technicians to commercial and residential installers.
“No experience is necessary for any department. We will train,” she said. “But having some mechanical aptitude and knowing your way around some power tools is super helpful.”
On the commercial side, Martin Evers is part of a crew doing commercial glass installation near Appleton. He’s been with the company for 15 years.
“I can go down any highway and it’s, ‘I worked on that building. That building there. That building there,’” Evers said. “Once you get around a bunch, there are so many projects all across the state. It’s pretty incredible.”
He said that work isn’t slowing.
“It’s a great feeling to know that every day you’ve got a lot of work to get done and you’re not going to be sitting at home,” Evers said. “We’ve got things that need to be finished.”
While working on a more routine window replacement, Schingen said one of the perks of his job is doing custom work.
“People with project cars, like rat rods, those older vehicles that we do that have to have custom glass cut for them because they don’t manufacture it. It’s one of the weird perks I love about this job,” he said. “I get to cut glass for old vehicles. My glass, maybe it’s a show car, gets to go on display.”
Information about career opportunities at Tri City Glass & Door can be found here.
