In our ongoing series of highlighting Kamps Pallets’ talented staff, we’d like to introduce Darren who is Assistant Plant Manager at our Niles location. At first glance, one might not see many similarities between working at a pallet company and working at a senior living community. In his time so far as an assistant plant manager, Darren has noticed a few.
Darren worked as the executive director of a senior living community managing and supporting nurses and other members of the staff. Darren focused on setting the bar high when it came to work performance to give the best care to his “customers,” which in this case happened to be the residents.
Darren’s supervisory duties and day-to-day tasks have changed considerably, but some of his key principles have remained the same. Most important: Expect the best from your employees so that your customers also receive the best.
Darren started as an operations management trainee in Grand Rapids and spent the first two months sorting pallets. Darren recognizes the importance of knowing your pallets and what a huge impact sorting can have on the rest of the operations process and ultimately the success of the business.
On a typical day in Niles, you may find Darren doing morning stretches with the production employees, sitting in a sales meeting, or working the entire day on the bandsaw. Not only does Darren enjoy the variety of his tasks, he believes spending time out on the floor is critical to building a good relationship with the production employees.
We are so glad that Darren jumped across industries into the pallet business and that he brought along his commitment to setting high standards for our employees. His experience working with people and for people makes our company a better place to work and a better pallet supplier.
