SpillTech
On-the-Job Training Program
Incumbent Worker Training Program
Keeping it Clean
SpillTech has manufactured an offering of high-technology, high-performance polypropylene sorbent products for industrial maintenance and spill cleanup since 1971. By building technology into every product, SpillTech has developed an exclusive line of high-performance sorbents for almost any leak or spill application. In addition to their exclusive line of more than 110 specially-designed sorbent products, the company also markets a wide variety of complementary spill control products to help companies establish and maintain clean, safe industrial workplace environments. SpillTech has experienced steady growth in the industry, with headquarters in Alpharetta, Georgia, and an international divisionbut many of these products are manufactured right here at the Mobile plant.
And Eddie Reid, Plant Manager for their Mobile area plant, has been helping them make those products since November 1999, when he joined SpillTech as a one-man customer service department. Reid is a Mobile native, husband and father of three, who has never left Mobile to pursue his educational or career goals. He didnt have to. After receiving an economics degree at the University of Mobile and an MBA from the University of South Alabama, Reid was hired by SpillTech and literally worked his way up the career ladder until he ran the entire Mobile facility. Reid worked his way up to Plant Manager at SpillTech through a variety of jobs including managing customer service, an extremely important aspect of business success at SpillTech, with its focus on the customer.
Reid believes that is one of the biggest reasons why SpillTech is an industry leader in sorbent technology and spill control products. Says Reid, SpillTech offers a total package to our customers: quality high technology products, competitive pricing and excellent customer serviceand we really focus on the service aspect. After his stint in customer service, Reid was then promoted to materials manager and then to production manager, before landing his current plant management job a year and a half ago, of which Reid says, Im still learning.
Both SpillTech and Reid are big proponents of the On-the-Job Training program at Mobile Works. With such a highly technical and challenging business environment, it is critical to hire people who have an aptitude for the business. But, according to Reid, it is even more crucial to hire for attitude, something that he says is extremely difficult to do. Says Reid, Good people are difficult to find and this program has helped tremendously with that. Not only do we get the good people now, but Mobile Works shares the expenses with us and that was important to us. But even more important to SpillTech and myself, was all the pre-screening and matching that Mobile Works did for us and how closely our job developer, Joyce Browning, worked with us, in meeting our needs. Thats what did it for us here at SpillTech and we would definitely use Mobile Works again.
Reid says SpillTech is also using the Mobile Works Incumbent Worker Training program to their advantage to teach a lean manufacturing called Lean Journey to their workers. It is opening my staffs eyes to ways to eliminate waste throughout the manufacturing process. And it wont just be a one-time shot with this training, eitherthis is just a first step in an ongoing training process. My people will be training and mentoring others with a train-the-trainer type program for years to come with the training they are receiving, says Reid.
Reid advises other business people that, if you have the opportunity to use the Mobile Works On-the-Job Training or Incumbent Worker Training programs and you qualify for them and you dont use them, you are making a mistake. He says, I say that for two reasons. First, never turn down free money. Secondly, because in todays global economy if youre not learning continuously, youre going backwards and you probably wont be around for long. And no company wants that. So investing in people and technology (anything that broadens peoples vision, according to Reid), is critical and it has to be a continuous process. And Mobile Works makes it easier for companies like mine to do just that.
SpillTech Environmental is making a difference by keeping the world clean. Mobile Works appreciates that. And we appreciate managers like Eddie Reid, who has a made a difference at the bottom line of SpillTech by taking advantage of the business programs Mobile Works has to offer.
|