Industry Ignited Podcast

Designing Innovation from the Ground Up: Circle R Engineering’s T’Ray Rutledge on Turning Ideas into Systems | Ep. 33

Leeanne Aguilar, Ph.D. Season 1 Episode 33

In this episode of Industry Ignited, Dr. Leeanne Aguilar interviews T’Ray Rutledge, P.E., CEO of Circle R Engineering, whose career spans the U.S. Air Force flight line to founding a design-build firm that turns napkin sketches into working machines. Rutledge shares how aerospace discipline, curiosity, and safety culture shaped his approach to hydraulics, pneumatics, and electric-drive systems across industries from agriculture to steel. He explains how Circle R Engineering helps inventors and manufacturers accelerate innovation with maintenance-friendly, power-efficient, patent-ready designs—demonstrating how precision engineering and servant leadership can move ideas from concept to market with reliability and heart.