Plus Group is excited to spotlight Karen Adams, a Senior Piping Designer and one the Team Leads for the Process Design team. Karen has been an integral part of the Plus Group family for 24 years, joining Process Plus one year after company was founded in 1996. Plus Group was a company of 20 employees then, with Karen as one of two process designers. Karen has always been involved in making the company culture strong with her support of the children’s Christmas parties and Make-A-Wish fundraisers to the Matthew 25 runs and the ALS walks.
Karen has more than 20 years of experience designing and laying out Process and utility piping systems in the chemical, food, manufacturing, and pharmaceutical industries, including clean piping system design, 3D fly-through models, and thermal analysis. She has a keen eye for identifying areas of improvement in complex processes and has been instrumental in helping companies streamline their workflows to increase efficiency.
Her love for design dates back to childhood. As a kid, Karen would draw floor plans and even build her own dollhouses from her dad’s leftover pieces of wood and vinyl. She discovered her great-grandfather was a draftsman through recent ancestry research, which might run in the family. Karen loves time with her family and is motivated most by her faith, family, and knowing that her two sons have grown up to be incredible young men with kind and thoughtful hearts.
Karen finds great satisfaction in her work as a Process Designer. She takes a 2D drawing and builds complex 3D piping and equipment models that transform our client’s concept into reality. Although challenging at times, Karen takes great pride in watching her work come to life onscreen and at various client sites and seeing the precision and technicality required to make a system work properly. “The equipment & piping come to life because of me, which is quite rewarding,” Karen said.
We asked Karen about her experience at Plus Group, and she quickly mentioned the Process Design team. The team’s shared values of respect and appreciation create an encouraging work environment where everyone supports one another. In addition, she believes their ability to work together seamlessly and efficiently translates to positive customer outcomes. She considers the Process Design team the A-Team, and it’s easy to see why. “We’re a tight-knit group and can lean on each to get a fast-paced project out the door. And I think that teamwork ultimately translates to the customer.”
Over the past 25 years, Plus Group has grown and evolved, but Karen says the passion remains the same and keeps our customers returning. According to her, customers choose Plus Group because of our employees’ love for problem-solving and creating designs that work for the customer’s needs. These values enable Plus Group to navigate challenges and reach a common goal.
