When Jim Gibson started studying at the University of Houston for his Industrial Engineering degree in 1962, he did it while also working for the Texas Highway Department doing drafting, surveying and construction inspection.
He was commuting at night to do it, about 50 minutes south from Conroe to Houston, on the then two-lane Highway 75. It was in a summer school English class at UH that he met his wife of 63 years. Their time together has included three children, seven grandchildren and life in Houston, Dallas and Abilene, plus traveling the world together.
Gibson decided on Industrial Engineering because of the diversity and challenges it offered.
After graduating in 1966, he saw the impact of legislation on manufacturing. The passage and implementation of the Clean Air Act in 1963, as well as the Clean Water Act that expanded in 1972, and Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, led to many opportunities for him to put his UH degree to work.
“I liked Industrial Engineering because there were always challenges requiring multiple solutions,” he stated. “Solving one large problem led to smaller problems, each one an added challenge.“
Gibson provided an example of one of those cascading solutions.
“The EPA had come out with exhaust stack regulations. One of the plants, that was a division of the parent company, manufactured automobile condenser coils for air conditioners. They had some external pollution that didn’t comply with the Clean Air Act. At that time we could not find equipment that would solve our air emission problem. My team and I experimented with different types of filtering, like flooding the stack with water mist, and electrostatic filters. We finally got a centrifugal water separator that worked well solving the exhaust problem. However, we were then faced with finding a solution for the solid and liquid waste.”
“I had the company buy a used oil tanker, because much of the waste was lubrication oil,” he said. “We collected the oil, put it in the tanker, and shipped it to a waste oil disposal site. The solids that we generated from the liquid, we filtered through a system of different size gravel and sand. That process made it acceptable to send the solid waste to the solid waste disposal site.”
Gibson worked for a variety of firms engaged in manufacturing in his 46-year career, including in the electronic industry, automobile industry, and power transmission industry. His longest stretch of 34 years was at Martin Sprocket & Gear. In that role, he opened a new factory in Abilene and managed another factory in Clarksville. After retiring he consulted, traveling the country for Martin.
In contrast to what many people say, Gibson stressed that his classroom studies were vital in his professional career.
“Some people say they never use what they learned in college, but everything I learned in college I have used. In addition, independent thinking and creative problem solving learned in college is essential to a successful career,” he said. “I had professional assignments where I used my time and motion studies, cost estimating, machining, tooling design, plant layout, thermodynamics and other subjects.”
Since graduating, he’s been back to UH many times. The starkest change to him is the growth of the campus and the huge explosion of students in the Engineering School.
“In 1962, one of our classrooms and lab looked like an old World War II Quonset Hut,” he said, referring to the simple steel frame structure. It was also far more common to have engineering classes in arts and science buildings, as the main engineering building wasn’t completed until 1967 and dedicated in 1968.
His career took him to 28 states and three foreign countries. In retirement, Gibson loves to spend time on his ranch outside of Abilene. Engineering remains an important part of the Gibson family, as his oldest son is a civil engineer, married to another civil engineer, with a granddaughter who is a civil engineer engaged to a civil engineer.
Gibson planted wheat and ran cattle for a few years, but now he likes to putter around the ranch, watch sports and enjoy the company of his large extended family.
When asked, “If you had to live your life over again,” he responded with a big smile, “I would do exactly the same thing.”