MRO Today - Flores adjusts to role as coach

Flores adjusts to role as coach

by Paul V. Arnold

Vince Flores never played in the National Basketball Association. He's never stepped foot on an NBA court, for that matter.

However, there are similarities between Flores, the maintenance supervisor at Core Materials Corporation in Gaffney, S.C., and Mike Dunleavy, the former University of South Carolina and NBA guard who is now head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers.

After retiring as an NBA player in 1987, Dunleavy accepted an assistant coaching position with the Milwaukee Bucks. In this first taste of management, Dunleavy had a hard time separating his job as teacher from his old job as player. When a guard screwed up in a scrimmage, Dunleavy would step in to show how the play should have been run. Trouble was, after running the play correctly, Dunleavy would forget to remove himself from the scrimmage. After five or 10 minutes of running, dribbling and passing, the coach would catch himself and head back to the sidelines.

It took Dunleavy almost two years to rid himself of that habit. Today, he's acknowledged as one of the game's top teachers and strategists.

Flores, MRO Today magazine's MRO Pro for February/March, sees a parallel in his evolution from fix-it whiz to department leader. For 20 years, at manufacturing facilities in the southern United States, Flores was recognized as the maintenance department's go-to guy. If there was a mechanical dilemma or a downright emergency, more often than not, Flores got the call.

"I had always been 'the one,'" he says. "I loved that role. I was real good at it."

In January 1999, Flores moved up the ladder by accepting a position as maintenance supervisor at Core Materials.

"I had a lot of individual authority at other plants, but this was my first taste of maintenance management," he says.

The transition wasn't easy.

"It was scary at first," he says. "I asked myself, 'Can I handle this? Can I make the right decisions?' Deep down, I knew I could. I just had to be comfortable in my new role."

Perhaps as a way to feel comfortable, Flores frequently acted like a young Dunleavy.

"If there was a problem on the floor, or a mechanic asked a question on how to do something, I would jump in and start doing it," he says.

The mechanic would stand around, waiting for a chance to do the job. Sometimes, Flores would catch himself and back off. Other times, he would finish the job.

"It's hard not to be involved," he says.

With the guidance of Tom Lensie, who oversees the plant's maintenance and engineering operations, Flores has learned to be a coach and a teacher. He's also learned to avoid the practice of forcing himself back in the game. His "players" give him a hand in that regard.

"If I start to do it, the guys tell me to step back," he says. "They tell me, 'Vince, I can do this. You just tell me what you want done, and I'll do it.'"

This article appeared in the February/March 2000 issue of MRO Today magazine. Copyright, 2000.