Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:09] Speaker B: Welcome to the Clear Impact Podcast, brought to you by Mitre Brands University. Thanks for joining us today. My name is Sheri Conner and I am your host.
So, good morning.
[00:00:25] Speaker C: We are here on the Clear Impact podcast and we are touching base with various leaders across the enterprise. And today we're talking with Chris Davis, who is largely in the manufacturing space. So M is for manufacturing. So welcome to the podcast, Chris.
[00:00:42] Speaker A: Thank you for having me here.
[00:00:43] Speaker C: Yeah, thanks for making time. And so, Chris, you're currently vice president of operations.
You're based here in Venice, but what is your scope of responsibility?
[00:00:54] Speaker A: Yeah, so I'm the vice president of operations for the Southeast, which is really including any of our manufacturing operations in Florida.
[00:01:01] Speaker C: Awesome. And so before we get into what you've been up to lately, let's talk a little bit about your career path, your history, whatever you've done before so we can get to know you a little bit.
[00:01:13] Speaker A: Yeah, sure. Back in the day, I studied chemical engineering in Australia and got into manufacturing almost right away working for James Hardy. And that company brought me to the states back in 1990.
And almost 10 years ago, I joined Milgard over in Simi Valley and soon after moved up to Portland. And I was running plants at that point. And from there, you know, moved into multiple plant leadership, which culminated in having the Northwest operations for Milgard. And from there I moved into another operational role with the internal supply group, which is all of our extrusion and pultrusion work.
And at the beginning of this year, that role changed into the Southeast role, where I am now. So big move from living in Portland, Oregon down to Sarasota, Florida.
[00:02:04] Speaker C: Right. Oh, so I thought you were in Tacoma.
[00:02:06] Speaker A: Yeah, well, a lot of my responsibilities were, but when we first moved up to the Northwest, my job was plant manager of Portland, so we got a house near that plant.
[00:02:17] Speaker C: Okay. Yeah, I was in Tacoma not too long ago and it was lovely. It was July, so of course it was lovely. But got to tour the extra and pultrusion plants and that was completely a new experience for me and super interesting. And had time with Mark Wenfeld and he's doing an amazing job out there and gave us tours. And so, yeah, it was really interesting. And so how's Florida? Because that's about as polar opposite weather wise and time wise as the West Coast. So how's it going for you?
[00:02:47] Speaker A: Yeah, well, the weather is really different and I'm totally fine with that. In terms of the work content, I mean, it's a big difference too. So coming in to these operations Here in Florida, there's a variety of things going on. You know, the business had grown, the PGT business had grown through acquisitions. We had plants all around the place doing different things in different ways.
So we've been really focused on implementing the Miter way of doing operations, which we have well explained, which I'm sure you've seen on my other way of operations documents and which we support with a twice annual assessment of each of the plants and then we give feedback to each of the operations. So through that we've been able to identify ways to move all of our plants across the whole network towards the best practice. So. But there was some low hanging fruit here in Venice that we got moving on, you know, more or less right away.
[00:03:46] Speaker C: Yeah. So there've been a lot of changes on the plant floor. I know shift consolidations and things like that. Do you want to talk about some of that? Yeah.
[00:03:54] Speaker A: I mean, our primary focus coming into this year based on customer feedback was to take care of quality and on time delivery, which the way we think about that is an order is on time if it includes all the parts, doors, windows, components, and that's good. If it's missing something, that's not good. And then we try to make sure that's on the next truck. So our two focus areas with those and the quality has come a long way, really starting last year when the acquisition happened. It's been a big focus and the team's done a fantastic job here. We're getting solid feedback from our customers about what they're experiencing. It never ends. Continuous improvement can't ever end. I think if you believe you're at an end, you're probably about to have a bad experience.
[00:04:40] Speaker C: Right? Yeah.
[00:04:41] Speaker A: Pride comes before a fall, so it never ends. But made substantial progress in the quality area. The on time delivery has been an all year battle and that's required us to work through all levels of the organization and work with vendors and improving vendors. So it's been quite complex and to the credit of Cameron Richardson and Chris Roof leading the teams here, we've now driven processes and culture through every layer of the organization. This plan is massive and it's complex with the product offering. So we're right on the cusp of hitting the 98% on time target that the business always targets. We had one week, we tapped it the other week, but we're just right in the high 97s and over the next few weeks we'll undoubtedly push over that as we keep improving. But to accomplish that, I think about the Work the team has done, getting people excited to do the work. Oh, and now my job's going to change.
But the urgency with how we do things and the nature of some of the work for leaders throughout the org is quite different.
One thing that I knew from experience in our west coast plants is once we get things humming pretty nicely, everybody's jobs get that much easier. And that's what we've seen. So we've got a lot of really, really satisfied leaders who are able to deliver these fantastic results. But it's really. It's a lot less work. More urgency, less work, if that makes sense. So fantastic progress on those.
[00:06:09] Speaker C: Nice. Well, I know the parking lot's getting pretty full all the time and so we gave up a couple of shifts, like the weekend shifts here. And so was that to maximize production during the week or.
[00:06:21] Speaker A: Yeah. So we tend to run our plants in a Monday to Friday fashion, generally, and then spill over into a weekend if we're just really strapped for throughput and capacity. And as we miter generally and maybe even the whole window industry because our customers take deliveries Monday through Friday.
So if we work through a weekend, it means we're piling up inventory and that doesn't lead to a very lean operation. So ideally we'd always be sort of synced up between manufacturing and delivery, so there was always a thought that we would end up going in that way. But the timing was really driven by some changes to regulations about employment law. It led to us losing some team members. So we were in a pickle where we really had to make a change to be able to support the orders we already had committed in the system. So we went ahead and made that change and that brought those people from the weekend shift onto the week shifts. So it was really a consolidation of the team members we have which had those many side benefits, the least of which the parking. I mean, that's obviously been a challenge.
[00:07:22] Speaker C: Right. Getting some extra steps in the morning if you're not here by 6:00am or something.
[00:07:26] Speaker A: Yeah. And we're working on things for that. Unfortunately, that's a little lower on the priorities. We really got to take care of team members and customers first and foremost.
[00:07:34] Speaker C: Right, of course.
[00:07:36] Speaker A: So what it led to is it worked in conjunction with improvements we've made on production line layouts, which enabled us to be more footprint, which means space friendly.
[00:07:45] Speaker C: Sure.
[00:07:46] Speaker A: To have less inventory and WIP in the lines and actually to increase our throughput. So we've almost doubled throughput on some of those big vinyl lines this year, which has enabled us to get the job done in less. And we've seen some pretty big uptick in vinyl demand this year too. So to be able to handle that and do it in less shifts is really a credit to the team and what the team can accomplish in terms of continuous improvement.
[00:08:12] Speaker B: We are sharing our expertise around all topics relating to the window and door industry. Whether you are a customer selling our products or a homeowner doing research, the Clear Impact podcast provides helpful content that makes an impact. Subscribe today wherever you listen to podcasts.
[00:08:30] Speaker C: Right. So we're running more efficiently with less space and less time. So I know one of the things, because I reached out to Chris Roof right after the consolidation of shifts, and I was like, I help lead tours sometimes. You know, what do I tell people? And so he gave me, you know, the explanation, which was basically, basically now we have more time for preventative maintenance on the weekends. We can make sure that our equipment is running well. We can make sure that any backorders or things like that are able to be caught up and that we're not just running crazy trying to keep up all the time. We have more succinct schedules and just more organization around the production. So we're seeing that, right? We're seeing the benefits of that.
[00:09:12] Speaker A: Absolutely, we are. And one of the other benefits is anybody in the leadership team. And we have, like I said, it's a big plan. So there's a lot of layers of leadership. Trying to cover a seven day operation is a lot of work. It means a lot of intrusions on people's private time and personal time. And so now we've got people being able to enjoy their weekends and come in and really put in their full effort at work and then go off and have a full enjoyment of their family life outside of work as well.
[00:09:38] Speaker C: Sure. What else do you want to talk about? Anything else? There's a lot.
[00:09:43] Speaker A: Yeah, there's so much. I mean, we've got. I mentioned that we've made improvements on many production lines, which is really getting them working more like single piece flow instead of in big batches, which streamlines the operation. It also gives the team members a venue to participate in continuous improvement and really bring ideas to the team so we can go and implement them together.
And so we're in yet another phase of relaying out lines across the whole Venice campus right now to make space for upcoming changes where we'll be moving some product lines in from the CGI plant.
[00:10:18] Speaker C: Right. And some of that will go to Fort Myers as well.
[00:10:20] Speaker A: Right, Exactly. Yeah. Fort Myers is mostly focused on making sliding doors. So the sliding doors that are currently produced in CGI will be produced in Fort Myers.
[00:10:30] Speaker C: Yeah. Chris Kerwood does a great job down there.
[00:10:32] Speaker A: It's incredible to see the progress that Chris Kerwood and the leadership team have made there. I mean, to see how the team is so engaged and the progress we're making around safety and the progress we're making on quality is just a real testament to the leadership of Kerwood and team there.
They're doing a fantastic job.
[00:10:51] Speaker C: We were sad when he left because he's such a great personality to bump into on the mezzanine, but we knew he was needed there and he's done a great job.
[00:10:59] Speaker A: Absolutely. I suppose one other thing that we didn't talk about, maybe you would have got this if you're speaking to Dean lately, but you've heard about Diamond Glass.
[00:11:08] Speaker C: Oh, yeah, We've had lots of conversations about Diamond Glass, but that's rolling out into the PGT line soon, right?
[00:11:14] Speaker A: Well, it's already there. So we have, on a limited basis some Windor products and some PGT products where we're selling the Diamond Diamond Glass offering. And then we're going to keep, like, adding that, you know, more accessibility in terms of product configurations and customers that have access to it.
But the last little step we did, which is a bigger door size, looks like it's picked up quite a bit of interest. So that's exciting to us because that's a new manufacturing technology that we're still developing as we go in order to be able to do it at volume and big sizes and things like that. So.
[00:11:47] Speaker C: Right, it's in the oversized pivot doors. Right. Is it in the 6x10s? Well, that's a Windoor product.
[00:11:54] Speaker A: Yeah. Windor is where we started with it. So, yeah, it's available on most everything there. There is a size limit, but work, actually, our supplier is working on trying to improve the technology around that to get to bigger sizes as well.
[00:12:06] Speaker C: Yeah. We've been talking about Diamond Glass for a couple years off and on through the podcast, but I haven't had Dean in lately. He's had a role change as well and a big promotion for Dean. So I'm going to see if I can get him in here to talk about new products and things like that.
[00:12:20] Speaker A: That would be great. Yeah. We have Pembroke Pines coming online during next year and that's really where we're going to produce door glass.
[00:12:28] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:12:29] Speaker A: And the real value of Diamond Glass is in the doors. You Know, in the big, heavy panels. It's a strong but lighter solution for hurricane windows. So that's going to be really where we ramp things up on diamond glass.
[00:12:41] Speaker C: Yeah, I'm excited about that. I like to be able to slide those doors open with my elbow because I'm carrying a tray of food or drinks or Chihuahua or that. Yeah, yeah, you gotta. Well, Chihuahua, you can manage one handed. You can manage one hand with Ochiwa.
[00:12:56] Speaker A: Ochihua and a beer.
[00:12:57] Speaker C: Yeah, there you go.
So you've got a lot going on. I don't want to keep you too much longer, but I do want to ask you, and I've been asking everybody this question as we bring the education component into our conversation.
What is something interesting that you're learning about lately? And that could be personal or professional? You know, like, hey, I was learning about the different kinds of birds that are on the beach, or I was learning about how to do hurricane prep or something professional. It can be. What?
[00:13:26] Speaker A: Sure, sure. I feel like I never stop learning. And the more challenging the role is, means that the more learning is happening. And this year so far has been no shortage of learning opportunities.
You know, some of it was things that I already knew in parallel, but, you know, we had to roll up our sleeves and understand the operations here in a lot of detail. But I'll share the one thing that nobody really knows. I'm trying to do this, but I'm trying to learn Spanish in the background, and I'm terrible. And it's hard.
[00:13:58] Speaker C: It is hard.
[00:13:59] Speaker A: And I'm not even at the point where I'm confident enough to roll it out when I'm done with the team in Hialeah, although they would love it.
[00:14:06] Speaker C: Buenos dias is about. Yeah, I know. Francisco that I work with is right next to me, and I should be engaging him more about Spanish, and it doesn't stick unless you're using it all the time. It's really hard to learn a new language for me.
[00:14:20] Speaker A: Apparently very difficult.
[00:14:22] Speaker C: Well, you're learning American after being in Australia. I mean, it's still English, but there's still differences.
[00:14:27] Speaker A: So wickedly different.
[00:14:29] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:14:29] Speaker A: I had to change the way that I spoke when I moved to the States. Yeah.
[00:14:33] Speaker C: Oh, well, don't change too much.
We love the Australian accents here. All right, Chris. Well, I think that'll do it for now. We may have another conversation later as things progress with our changes in the manufacturing lineup and what's going to be done where. All right, well, Chris, I appreciate your time today. Thank you so much.
[00:14:53] Speaker A: Thank you so much, Sherry.
[00:14:54] Speaker C: All right, take good care.
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