The cans, bottles and packaged goods surrounding Chelsea Houston’s desk in Haskell’s Livermore, California, office are more than decoration. Each is a first-production sample from a manufacturing line she helped bring into operation.

“I get to have a museum of all my projects on my desk,” Houston said. “There’s always a story behind everything. It is a way to memorialize our time on site.”

Those stories span beverage, snack, candy and other consumer product facilities. As a Project Integrator with Haskell’s Automated Manufacturing Systems team, Houston helps coordinate design, equipment installation and startup, connecting engineers, equipment suppliers, field teams and clients around a working production system.

Haskell formed the Automated Manufacturing Systems (AMS) team to strengthen the connections between facility construction and manufacturing systems on engineer, procure, construct (EPC) projects. The team designs and provides project management for Process and Packaging Engineering and coordinates the handoffs that determine how equipment, utilities and building systems come together.

Houston began building experience shortly after earning her mechanical engineering degree from San Jose State University in 2018. She joined Haskell’s Livermore office as an intern before moving into a full-time engineering role and eventually becoming a Project Integrator.

The role requires more than designing equipment layouts. Haskell integrators work with plant operators to understand how people use manufacturing systems and how materials move through a facility. They use that information to coordinate equipment and pathways that support safe, efficient operations.

“Every project I have been on has been unique,” she said. “Each one has brought challenges I never expected, and each has been rewarding because we worked together and overcame them.”

That approach recently earned Houston Haskell’s Living the Values Award, which recognizes team members who consistently demonstrate the company’s core values of Team, Excellence, Service and Trust.

“Chelsea is a collaborative and reliable teammate who builds strong relationships and consistently lifts up those around her,” Director of Operations Manufacturing Ginna Pratt and Design Manager Adam Caplan wrote in nominating her. “She fosters connection through mentoring junior engineers and organizing activities that strengthen team culture.”

For Houston, the recognition carried added significance because she works from one of Haskell’s smaller offices.

“We are in a smaller, remote office, so it was meaningful to know the way we work in Livermore is recognized across Haskell,” Houston said. “After months of demanding project work, I was grateful that others still saw those values in how I supported the team.”

Houston helps organize office dinners, trivia and bowling and participates in Friday barbecues, chili cook-offs and outings that bring new and experienced team members together. A bowling league trophy shares space on her desk with the production samples.

As projects progress from plans to production, Houston’s desk continues to fill. Each sample records a technical result, but it also represents the people who worked together to produce it.

“Haskell values its people,” she said. “The company wants people to improve and to have the best job of their lives. That shows up in the way teams support each other when the work gets difficult.”

Learn how Haskell’s Manufacturing Systems team integrates process, packaging, automation and material handling from concept through commissioning.