Sept. 21, 2022

This paid piece is sponsored by Silencer Central.

Growing up on a farm south of Letcher, Lukas VanLaecken learned how to find the tools he needed to get the job done.

“You had use ingenuity, whether it was to find ways to fix equipment or put things together or come up with new ways to get a job done,” he said.

And, like many South Dakotans, the lifestyle also led him to a love of hunting.

“All my life,” VanLaecken said. “My family is into hunting a little bit of everything – white-tail deer, pheasant and duck are the main ones.”

But he never thought his engineering degree he earned at the South Dakota School of Mines would allow him to work for a fast-growing business in the firearms industry, within his home state.

“My focus was more on automotive or aerospace, but when this job came up, it was a no-brainer to get into a field where a passion outside of my work was as well,” he said.

VanLaecken joined Silencer Central as a manufacturing engineer in early 2021. He was promoted to lead manufacturing engineer about a year later, manager of engineering after that, and in May, he became the company’s director of supply chain and engineering.

While he hadn’t used a silencer while hunting before joining the Sioux Falls-based silencer manufacturer, he quickly gained an appreciation for them.

“It really changed my whole perspective,” he said. “I’ll probably never shoot without one now that I’ve done it. For me initially, the biggest benefit was being able to shoot without hearing protection. And I have kids – my oldest daughter is 10 – and seeing the ability for her to shoot a high-powered rifle and for the recoil not to be too much because of the silencer was a really good thing to see.”

For the past year, he has put his engineering skills to work and helped develop Silencer’s newest product: the Banish Backcountry.

“We had a lot of customer feedback that they were looking for something lighter and shorter for when they’re out hunting and didn’t want to carry a large suppressor on longer hunts,” he said. “So we set out to develop something really specific to those users. They could put it on their gun and hardly recognize it was there, and it wouldn’t impede them.”

We sat down with VanLeacken to learn more about his experience at Silencer.

You oversee both engineering and supply chain. What all does the role involve?

In early 2022, I took over engineering – we have two others on the team along with myself – and shortly after that, I also took on supply chain, which covers our purchasing and procurement teams for our products, our suppressors, accessories and what we use for everyday business. I oversee that, and it includes shipping and receiving, our warehouse team, all incoming product and the suppressors we’re shipping out. We also have a threading service we offer to thread guns, and I oversee that as well.

What do you like about working at Silencer Central?

Really from the first day, it was just being able to see the vision that our founder, Brandon Maddox, had for the company, the entrepreneurial vision that we’re going to keep growing every year exponentially and at a very fast pace. That excited me and being able to have an immediate impact on change and improvements. That was really rewarding to me, along with how much respect Brandon and the leadership team put back into the employees to make the right decisions and move the company forward.

What was it like launching the Backcountry?

It’s quite a bit different from our current products, so we did a lot of research on design features that would help us make it smaller and lighter but just as effective. I lead the engineering team, but the rest of the team and other members of the organization really helped refine key features, and from there we worked with our manufacturers to develop prototypes we could test. We tested several variations and honed in on the most efficient and effective. We went through eight iterations before landing on the final design that performed the best.

Who is the Backcountry a good fit for?

Anyone that hunts big game or using a .30-caliber rifle or somewhere around there, it’s a great fit. Or if you’re going on a longer backpacking hunt, that’s where it’s specifically designed, But because it’s so small and light, it also appeals to nonhunters looking for something that reduces sound but is easy to maneuver when shooting.

I know you just launched one product, but do you anticipate more?

Yes. While I’ve been here, we launched two products last year that were more traditional suppressors and this one in the next couple months, and we’re working on two more potentially to launch in 2023. It’s been fun because I’ve been able to go out with some of our industry influencers and talk with them about what they’re looking for or seeing coming on in the industry and talk with them about opportunities and build those relationships. A lot of the people I’ve had the opportunity to meet and talk with are people I’ve followed on social media or seen on TV.

What would you say to someone else considering working at Silencer?

Wherever you’re at within the Silencer Central organization there’s always a lot of opportunity for advancement, whether it’s in the same function or role or elsewhere within the company. There’s always room for expansion and growth, and that’s something that’s very exciting to me, and I think would appeal to a lot of people. Every person in this company has a direct role or relationship to the success of the company. So really you can see the impact of what you do day to day, and it’s rewarding.

Want to join the team at Silencer Central? It’s growing, so there are always new opportunities. For a list of current openings, click here.