Pros
Smith & Loveless hired a new manufacturing director with extensive experience and he is already putting into place a new manufacturing vision and culture. In regards to Safety, which is tracked weekly, all safety incidents are well below the DART and TRIR levels for Kansas which says a lot about our manufacturing team - both union employees and non-union employees alike. We're not perfect, but we're well on our way to implementing a new manufacturing culture that promotes all. Recently promoted from within, was a new Inspection Manager. He is already developing many new SOP's and inspection standards. Change takes work and energy. Right now we're beginning to see some of the benefits from these two staffing changes. This will only increase as time continues on.
Cons
We still struggle with on-time deliveries. As these past due jobs are analyzed as to why they were late, systems can be put into place so that we aren't late. This will take both union and salaried support.