 Agents of change
MRO Today’s fourth annual All-Pro Team features eight dynamic plant workers who truly made a difference and improved their company
by Paul V. Arnold
Change is well and good, but if it doesn’t go beyond the CEO/plant manager/department manager levels, the initiative is in deep trouble.
Change is impossible without change agents, the truly irreplaceable people on the plant floor who pick up the ball and run with it. They use their technical and cognitive skills, ideas, leadership and vision to advance the change initiative from the big-picture, conceptional world to the bottom-line, real world.
These people make change happen, and we salute them each year with our MRO All-Pro Team awards.
This summer and fall, MRO Today magazine accepted nominations for non-management maintenance, production and purchasing workers who are seen as the go-to guys or gals (the change agents) at their plant.
From a list of 36 semifinalists, MRO Today selected the best of the best for this year’s honor roll.
Members of this year’s All-Pro class receive an MRO All-Pro Team plaque, an exclusive MRO Pro baseball cap and a prize donated by an MRO Today advertiser.
The 2003 All-Pro Team includes eight change agents:
• Butch Brotherton, lean manufacturing coordinator / sensei, Carver Pump Company, Muscatine, Iowa. Butch also was named our 2003 Pro of the Year.
• Pam Edwards, Continuous Improvement team leader, ArvinMeritor, Asheville, N.C.
• Irena Kuznowicz, MRO buyer, Weber-Stephen Products Co., Palatine, Ill.
• Terry Molnar, leadman, Flo-Tork Inc., Orrville, Ohio.
• Efrain Ocampo, aluminum die caster, Chicago White Metal Casting, Bensenville, Ill.
• Michael Orozco, master electrician, Armstrong World Industries, South Gate, Calif.
• Joene Oyler, Trim Department operator, DaimlerChrysler, Kokomo, Ind.
• Mike Tischler, machine mechanic, Baker Oil Tools, Broken Arrow, Okla.
Honorable mention (a certificate and MRO Pro cap) goes to:
• Joe Boucher, technical buyer, Dingley Press, Lisbon, Maine.
• Randall Deane, maintenance leadperson, Avionics Specialties Inc., Charlottesville, Va.
• Gary Kern, leadperson, Wiscraft Inc., Milwaukee.
• Edward Zarnowski, mail processing mechanic, United States Postal Service, Flushing, N.Y.
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A history of MRO All-Pro Teams
Class of 2003: Butch Brotherton, Carver Pump; Pam Edwards, ArvinMeritor; Irena Kuznowicz, Weber-Stephen Products; Terry Molnar, Flo-Tork; Efrain Ocampo, Chicago White Metal Casting; Michael Orozco, Armstrong; Joene Oyler, DaimlerChrysler; Mike Tischler, Baker Oil Tools
Class of 2002: Mike Ashley, Terra Industries; Dale Bucy, Texas Instruments; Patricia Gallardo-Irvin, General Motors; Michael Haak, Eli Lilly; David Lincoln, U.S. Postal Service; Patti Melton, AIS-Northrop Grumman; Ronnie Nixon, Hall-Hodges; Jack Smits, AMSEC
Class of 2001: Denise Augustine, Pillsbury; Charlie Criner, Volvo; Rita Ohlsen, Pactiv; Bob Stover, ALSTOM; Ginny Webster, Grove Gear; Gaylord Winterberg, Elco Textron
Class of 2000: Robyn Conner, Tennant; Chad Chichester, Dow Corning; Mat Dawson Jr., Ford; Tom Duggins, Bakery Chef/Quaker; Richard Lauer, USPS; Dave Radtke, Autogard; Allyn Ward, Trane; Dan Warren, Dow Corning
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This article appeared in the December 2003/January 2004 issue of MRO Today magazine. Copyright, 2003.
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