DENISE AUGUSTINE
maintenance technician, 
The Pillsbury Company

You have not met a maintenance employee like Denise Augustine. And, chances are, you never will.

Denise Augustine is a 45-year-old single mother employed at the Pillsbury Company plant in Murfreesboro, Tenn. 

She’s a line mechanic — in her words, "a peon." She’s a diminutive woman whose workshirt appears two sizes too big in the sleeves.

She came to Pillsbury in 1979 with no formal maintenance experience or skills, and a college degree in animal science.

It doesn’t sound like much.

Then, why was she chosen for MRO Today’s 2001 All-Pro Team and selected as its Pro of the Year?

Because, no one is a better and more important example of the power of one blue-collar worker.

Today, Denise Augustine oversees the maintenance needs of two high-speed production lines stocked with automation and power transmission equipment. She has built herself into a technical wizard.

On top of that, during down time and off time, she oversees the needs of every maintenance worker at the Murfreesboro plant.

Augustine is the chairperson of the plant’s 12-member Maintenance Training Committee. Maintenance manager Byron Harris is one of the team members on her committee.

She interviews every maintenance job candidate, reviews the technical qualifications for each position and administers each candidate’s skills assessment test.

She shapes and guides the department’s apprenticeship program, edits and publishes all of its manuals, schedules each apprentice’s on-the-job training, creates mentoring matches and attends graduation exercises.

She tracks training progress and certificate achievement for all maintenance employees.

She makes sure the company is on time in providing quarterly performance reviews.

She increases communication by creating surveys that pinpoint important issues and gauge opinions on policies and projects.

She won’t admit it, but she is the voice of the people AND a department leader at the same time.

"I don’t see myself as a leader," she says shyly and humbly. "I see myself as a normal peon out there."

She stops and gets a little misty-eyed before continuing.

"I believe everybody should have a fair shot, everybody should have a voice," she says. "Maybe I’m that voice, but I’m not a leader. I have different opinions than others. I’m not mainstream. I am willing to listen to anybody’s point of view, though, and treat that person fairly."

Augustine has been offered supervisory roles at the plant in recent years, but has turned them down.

"I don’t want a desk job," she says. "I like being a mechanic. I like the challenge. I like doing stuff."

She has also taken ownership of all those side projects.

"There’s times when I feel like saying, ‘I don’t want to do any more,’ because I know I’m overloaded," she says. "But then I see a need and how it affects people. Take training. We’re doing better at training than we were two or three years ago. If I stop doing it . . . Let’s just say I want us to keep moving forward."

This article appeared in the December 2001/January 2002 issue of MRO Today magazine. Copyright, 2002.

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