Mark Adduce took things apart as a kid. He realized early on that he needed to learn how to put them back together. This interest in parts and putting things together initially led him down a path toward medical school. Graduating with a degree in biology, Adduce decided medical school was not for him, and he began taking welding and other classes at Morraine Valley Community College. Not necessarily the classic path for a Technician of the Year, but one that has worked for Adduce and his employers.
Adduce is now a reliability technician with Ryan Central. He's charged with ensuring that the equipment purchased by Ryan Central works as it should, and if it doesn't, he works with the dealers and manufacturers to make sure things get fixed. He is also responsible for the company's telemetric program. Additionally, he incorporates technology used in other fields in his daily activities such as thermography, vibration analysis, elemental and LPC analysis.
Along the way, Adduce has been of great assistance to manufacturers and dealers in providing feedback from the field to assist in future development.
Prior to working for Ryan Central, he worked with Patten Tractor for 19 years, a Caterpillar dealer in Chicago. For 17 of those years, he was a field mechanic allowing for significant interaction with manufacturing and end-users.
