Category: Team Members

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During the COVID-19 crisis, Brad Rogers, a Process Engineer for Design Group in Modesto, California (US), has continuously supported a global supplier of soft drinks to ensure that water treatment and can production started earlier than planned to meet the market demand for water.

He successfully navigated a difficult and continuously changing environment to ensure production systems were fully supported to come up from a complete plant shutdown to meet quality standards for the product.

Meanwhile, Zach Vernon, Project Manager for Design Group’s Indianapolis office, oversaw the installation of two large tanks at the Indianapolis plant of a global soft drink supplier. The tanks were installed via crane after the plant’s roof was removed. Thanks to his diligent preparation and seamless coordination with multiple vendors, contractors and the client, the work was completed in a single day without impacting production.

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Recently a PCMC-UK customer producing anti-bacterial wipes and hand sanitizers for the British NHS experienced a problem with a cutting blade on one of their machines and was unable to get assistance for it by the Italian company that built it. So, thecustomer reached out to Steve Carder, Technical Sales Engineer for PCMC, since their machines are similar and asked for help. Steve connected virtually with the customer’s mechanic and helped get the machine back into production within minutes. In talking afterward with the customer, Steve mentioned his friend who volunteered with the “South West Blood Bikes,” a group that delivers medical supplies to the frontlines. Next thing you know, PCMC’s customer donated 6 large bottles of their hand sanitizers to thecharity (see photo above). “It’s very true and so important to remember thetrust we create with our customers is repaid in times of need,” said Steve.

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Christiaan Kot is an assembler for BW Flexible Systems/Symach in their Terneuzen, Netherlands facility. He is also a member of the volunteer fire brigade in Terneuzen, which means he gets called out for emergency support when ambulances are summoned. A few weeks ago, Christiaan was called away from work to help someone who needed CPR. One of his fellow firefighters who arrived before him performed the resuscitation. Maintaining the 1.5-meter/ 6-feet distance is not possible when performing CPR, and the volunteer firefighters wear heavy extinguisher suits and protection equipment to do their jobs—no easy feat! “It is reassuring that there are volunteers like Christiaan who are risking their health to help other people in need during this time of COVID-19,” said Ankie de Munter, BWFS-Terneuzen CPD Leader. “Chapeau! (Hats off to him!)” Thank you for your service, Christiaan!

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Recently, a customer in Brazil called BWP’s After Hours Hotline on a Saturday for help with a drive issue on a cut-size sheeter that was completely down. As they could not repair it remotely, BW Papersystems’ Service Engineer Sandro Kokkinidis drove hundreds of miles on Sunday to begin working on Monday morning. He followed all necessary precautions and maintained the minimum distance of 1.5 m/6 ft. while onsite. The customer was very happy with BWP’s fast and efficient support. Well done, Sandro!

Meanwhile, at BW Papersystems in Dongguan, China, Zheng JunWu, Field Service Manager, handled the delicate situation there extremely well, successfully navigating the challenges facing his team to complete acceptance tests and AR collections as required. Despite the lack of resources, he was able to utilize what he had to provide support for all customers during this challenging time. Eddie Mun, BWP Managing Director Asia, sends his appreciation to Zheng!

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As many community service programs have suffered dramatically from a loss of volunteer support, BWFS-Minneapolis (USA) Upgrades Sales Coordinator Peggy Schempf stepped up to fill the gap for the Meals on Wheels program offered by Impact Services of Anoka County, MN. Peggy serves as a “temporary” driver, filling in for a high-risk senior who can’t volunteer now, delivering between 8-12 meals during her own lunch hour. Peggy says, “I wanted to help those who cannot get out during this difficult time and check on them in some way. I’ve even met a new friend named Arla who is 92. What a blessing she is!”

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To help protect the health of their fellow team members and our business, several team members across the organization recently produced hundreds of cloth face coverings in an array of colors and patterns and distributed them to team members at their locations. Thanks to Judy Scoble and Lisa Smith of BW Flexible Systems in Duncan, South Carolina (USA) and Yuki Ikuta and Dianna Yen of Design Group in Commerce, California (USA) for their generosity! Said Yuki, a DG Partner at their Los Angeles area office, “We were inspired by our team, many of whom are working at client sites and going on job walks. It worked out well as we created them just as LA mandated faces masks in public.”

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Mark Kovi, a Pneumatic Scale Angelus Field Service Technical Specialist based in Akron, Ohio (USA), has shown remarkable dedication to an onsite installation of two seamer machines at the new Coca-Cola Houston, Texas facility. This extremely high-profile project consists of consolidating three production facilities into one brand new facility with two new high-speed lines. It is Coke’s first new facility in 18 years, and the most technologically advanced in the beverage industry. Mark’s willingness to be onsite during the pandemic for the machine acceptance test, installing design changes for the can discharge to achieve mandated machine efficiencies on the seamers, has been critical to the success of this high-profile installation, and to Coca-Cola’s and PSA’s future in the beverage market.

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When COVID-19 meant the BWP team would not be able to do onsite corrugator process training for their customer in the Pavlovo-Posadsky district of Russia (approx. 80 km east of Moscow), they turned to technology. A global cross-functional team of JT Britton, Ian McCall, Anna Krekoten, Alex Nerney, Jesse Jeske and Martin Harris, (plus many others) collaborated to create innovative web-based training. JT said the development of this training method allows for more focused attention to weaknesses and customer concerns when they finally get onsite, rather than data gathering or general training. “We can really concentrate on the aspects they need vs. wasting time on what they already know. It has allowed us to better understand opportunities with installs to better support the customer and get them engaged earlier in the process, so the training time is ‘theoretically’ reduced when on-site.” As a result of this collaboration brought on by COVID-19, BWP recently sold their first training webinar!

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Recently a Design Group client’s dry pasta facility was shut down as a result of a COVID-19 outbreak causing their palletizer operators to be placed on quarantine. Knowing DG’s team had familiarity with the equipment, the client requested their support. Within 36 hours two Design Group professionals, Randy Burns and Nick Wilder, stepped in to help keep the palletizers moving until the client’s operators could return from quarantine.

The client’s Director of Manufacturing Technology said: “It’s times like these when the long and strong relationships we have built are most important.”

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For 25 years, Paolo Corazza has been a field service engineer on the Padova (Italy) Service Team of BW Flexible Systems. Recently, after an intensive intervention at a customer site to repair an existing line, Paolo had to quarantine at home for several weeks. So, Paolo made good use of his time at home by providing online training on Simionato equipment for the rest of the Padova Service Team. This was extremely beneficial to brand new team member, Davide Bertoli, who joined the team in the middle of the pandemic and was quickly able to begin building necessary knowledge on their machines.