Service Supervisor Jacob Thraen

For any large piece of equipment — and particularly for those used out in the field and around manure — regular maintenance and service is necessary. For the broken part or damaged pump, qualified service technicians have the experience to get equipment back in working order. Puck’s service department is dedicated to keeping Puck equipment at peak performance because they understand what it’s like to be in the field.

Jacob “Frank” Thraen is the Service Supervisor at Puck's Manning location. When Jacob first started working at Puck in 2016, he was still a student in high school. As a part time worker after school, he did general maintenance such as sweeping and taking out the trash, occasionally working on the equipment. He eventually worked his way into the fabrication department and began welding part time for a few months before leaving for college. He came back in 2018 to work full time on the application crew.

Working in the field kept Jacob busier than when he had been working part time. “We’d go out, pump from the middle of August to the first week of December or so,” said Jacob, “and a month or two in the spring, and I was welding in the off season.” He continued that path until Puck started pumping in South Dakota. The additional state provided the opportunity to take part in summer application. Jacob transitioned to the application crew full time, noting that he found himself working on the team’s equipment more often than building new. Through the years he was leading a crew for an application line at a dairy near Manning.

From the Field to the Shop

When the Service Supervisor position became available, Jacob applied for the opportunity to work on more equipment. “Obviously when I took the job I didn’t know everything,” admitted Jacob. “I wasn’t expected to know everything. But that’s the great part about this place, there’s a lot of people here with a lot of experience, and anything I don’t know, there’s someone around here who can help.” Between the employees who made the product and Jacob’s experience working with and fixing equipment in the field, the service department can help customers get back to pumping sooner.

Over the last eight years, Jacob has seen incredible growth at Puck. “I’ve seen this place triple in size as far as buildings,” said Jacob. He has also seen many new faces as the number of employees grew. “Seeing this place grow has been unbelievable. You can tell in the buildings, our pumps have gotten bigger, and our hose has gotten bigger.” Jacob noted that even the average rate of gallons pumped has grown. “I remember when I started, 3,000 gallons per minute was great. Now there’s guys getting 4,200. The innovation that we’ve been able to come up with here, in my time, has been unbelievable.”

Although Jacob and the Puck service department in Manning are ready to help customers with equipment maintenance and troubleshooting, they aren’t the only team available to help. Puck also has experienced service technicians at our other Puck locations. Service requests can be made via online form or by calling (712) 655-9250.