Team Member Benny Phillips joined the HMMA family nearly 11 years ago on May 24, 2004. He worked for production control driving a forklift – a job that took him to every shop at one time or another.

“Back when I started in 2004, the buildings were up but everything wasn’t inside yet,” he remembers. “It was dark because the lights weren’t in yet, so we worked with just the light from the emergency lighting.”

Benny spent his first four years at HMMA on a forklift, which has given him some fun memories. “I remember that the roads weren’t paved yet and the forklifts would get stuck in the gravel, and they’d have to pull them out with a boom lift,” he laughs. “I also remember being the first person to use the freight elevator to take a forklift the second floor of the paint shop when I hadn’t even known that was possible.”

In 2008, Benny saw an opportunity for a Team Member transfer to the Dyno Lab in the engine shop where durability tests are performed on HMMA-built engines. “I have a degree in electronics, so when I saw the job posting I was really excited about the possibility of a challenging new experience,” he says.Benny got the transfer and started working in the Dyno Lab testing engines alongside three other Team Members that he’s still working with today. “Scott Bashaw started in the lab the same time I did, and we were trained by Randy Mosley and Milton Jones,” he recalls. “The four of us are still here together.”

Aside from the opportunity to learn about engine testing in the Dyno Lab, Benny said working at HMMA has brought him several opportunities he wouldn’t have had otherwise. “When I started in 2004 I was thinking about sending my daughter to college one day,” he says. “Now here I am, about to send her to AUM in the fall, and I’m able to do that thanks to my job at HMMA. I’m proud that we all have an opportunity to plan for our futures with a little help from Hyundai.”