Cascade Engineering appoints vice president of operations

Grand Rapids, Michigan-based Cascade Engineering (CE) has announced that Steve Bushong has been named vice president of operations for the CE family of companies. Bushong brings more than 30 years of manufacturing experience to CE and is a highly respected manufacturing leader in the global automotive supply industry.

“We are thrilled to have Steve join us as our vice president of operations,” says Christina Keller, president and CEO of CE. “He brings a depth of experience and knowledge in manufacturing that will allow us to fulfill our goal of world-class manufacturing and operational excellence. Most importantly, Steve places people first, and his character and integrity represent a strong cultural fit aligned with our triple bottom line heritage."

Prior to joining Cascade, Bushong was the vice president of North American operations for Yanfeng Automotive Interiors in Holland, Michigan. He started his career with Prince Corp. as a manufacturing ergonomics engineer and became the lead engineer for advanced manufacturing in the automotive overhead products group. Johnson Controls (JCI) purchased Prince Corp. in 1996, and Bushong was named injection molding manager of operations. He became group manager for injection molding process development in 1999 and was the plant manager for three separate Johnson Controls facilities from 2000 to 2011. 

Bushong was named operations director for all Holland facilities in 2011, with responsibilities for seven process and assembly facilities. He was promoted to vice president of North American operations for Johnson Controls Automotive Interiors in 2013. Yanfeng Automotive Trim Systems Co. of Shanghai purchased controlling interest of JCI's $3 billion automotive interiors business in 2015, and Bushong was named vice president of North American operations for Yanfeng Automotive Interiors at that time.

“I am excited to share my expertise leading operations for Cascade Engineering and honored to join such a highly respected organization,” Bushong says.          

Cascade Engineering is made up of nine strategic business units serving a wide variety of markets, including automotive, commercial truck and bus, solid waste and recycling, furniture and material handling. With a core competency in large-scale plastic injection molding, Cascade Engineering is a global company with more than 1,900 employees and 13 North American facilities, with additional European operations in Budapest, Hungary.