Dan Keys is flying high – figuratively and literally – as a successful engineer and as a part-time pilot soaring through the sky.
While he’s firmly grounded in his career at Freudenberg Sealing Technologies, Dan Keys has been on a rapid ascent since he joined the company in 2009 as part of a co-op program while he was a student at Kettering University in Flint, Mich. After completing his studies in mechanical engineering, Keys took a full-time job with Freudenberg’s Oil Seals Powertrain & Driveline Division in Cleveland, Georgia, where he was recently named Manager, Digitalization and Advanced Manufacturing. Coordinating with 11 global sites, Keys leads the Division’s global efforts to develop and implement advanced manufacturing technologies, including connected factories, digitalization, data governance, automation and business intelligence.
In addition to being extremely challenging and rewarding, Keys’ career path also has provided a runway to a different world. While looking for a place to live in Georgia, Keys discovered a unique apartment located within an airplane hangar at a small private airport. “It’s the perfect man cave,” he said, noting there is ample space to park and work on several vehicles. At the time, Keys didn’t have much interest in aviation, other than as a means of transportation. That didn’t last long. Fueled by the excitement of the surrounding planes, runways and pilots, Keys began taking flying lessons in 2015 and earned his pilot’s certificate a few years later.
He now is part owner of a Cessna 172. The classic 1974 four-seater keeps him busy, including fishing trips to Ohio and flights to visit family in other nearby states. He has named the blue and white plane “Bonnie.” “Flying is a fun hobby and is really useful,” Keys said.
“Weekend trips are a lot easier when the runway is in my back yard. And it’s such a thrill to do, especially when I can take family and friends up with me,” he added. “Although some of my European colleagues were a little hesitant at first, they loved it once we were airborne.”
Keys love for flying experienced a setback in 2020 when a drunk driver crashed into his hangar and seriously damaged both the building and the plane. Even then, however, Keys proved that every cloud does, in fact, have a silver lining. Keys didn’t just fix the plane, he upgraded it. Under the supervision of a Federal Aviation Administration-certified airframe and powerplant mechanic, Keys installed a more powerful engine, an advanced instrument panel, and restored the interior. As an engineer, he’s found a lot of similarities between the technologies and disciplines used on his plane and at his job, especially when it comes to safety redundancies, communication networks and data analytics.
“The plane has more than 40 sensors that provide six data points per second,” Keys explained. “The field bus networks are very similar to industrial controls. I use the same type of business intelligence reporting and advanced analytics as I do at work to better understand post flight analysis and enable predictive maintenance.” It’s clear that flying is much more than a synergistic hobby. It’s quickly become a passion for Keys, who envisions countless projects and trips into the wild blue yonder for years to come. “The possibilities are endless,” he concludes.
