Reverie

In a couple of months, God willing, I plan to retire once again from full time work. I really do not want to come to a full stop and am investigating opportunities such as blogging or videos on Rumble, BitChute, or Rofkin. Here I would like to present a reflection in four parts on one of the most enjoyable eras of my career. Please feel free to comment and as always, any helpful suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Also, if there is a theme that you would like to see amplified, let me know. If you enjoy it, please feel free to repost also. I have not shared this with anyone and as such one never knows how this type of thing will be received. I have no illusions of it going viral, but even if it went mildly bacterial, that would be way cool.

Part 1 of 4

On Monday October 26, 1998 I got the call. “Charlie, we would like you to drive up to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin on Wednesday morning. It might be a good idea to plan to spend the night there. Got a pen? The address is 7214 Madaus Street, Lake Geneva, WI. Your mission, should you decide to accept it; is to turn GPP into an ITW company.” (Okay, I embellished that last line a bit, I confess ??) It was my boss, Bob Hamilton. The call was not a complete surprise. He had told me before that they had been working on an acquisition for a couple of months.

In late August 1993 I had come to ITW Insert Molded Products (IMPRO) in Mokena Illinois as a prototype toolmaker in the toolroom. When John Petrzelka, the HR manager, hired me, he told me that they had a lot of recently graduated engineers and they would be counting heavily on me helping to tell them what to do in critical situations. I was dubious of that but it turned out to be spot-on.

At that time, we were experiencing > 20% annual growth and straining under the workload. The tool repair area was at the other end of the toolroom and I would hang around there when I had a free moment. Within a couple of months, I found myself in charge of mold repair. Later, I was asked to work on the molding floor on special projects, such as installing RJG process monitors and diagnosing chronic molding and tool failures. I also filled in as second shift supervisor for about 9 months.

When I had started at ITW Impro in Mokena I was living in Justice, IL. There was a Signode plant in Bridgeview about 2 ? miles from our house. Signode had been purchased by ITW about 8 years earlier in 1986. One day I decided to satisfy my curiosity about the plant and their culture and called the plant manager, Dennis Miller, to arrange a tour. He graciously greeted me and then passed me on to Selone Wolf. Selone had been there for several years and I asked him what it was like when they became an ITW company. Selone said it was a big shock at first. At one point they had a team meeting and told everyone, “We know that all you people come here with many talents and skills. Everybody knows how to manage a checking account, buy or rent houses, contract loans to buy a car, etc. When you come to work here, don’t leave all that talent at the door. We need all that ability to make this plant work.” He said it didn′t take long for the spirit of teamwork to start taking over and they went steadily up from there.

Arriving at the 7214 Madaus Street location in Lake Geneva Wisconsin Wednesday morning shortly before 10:00 AM, there was a short meeting of the key players with introductions. Then Kurt and Linda, the former owners, walked out the door into retirement and we started to work. These were the headiest of times, the first day of what was to be a journey of continuous improvement and enlightenment that would last 11 years. During that time, I was blessed with what any good manager most likes to see; human development and growth in spades. (to be continued next week…)