At Innovize, we have outstanding associates that are passionate about our purpose of creating a culture and products that improve people’s lives. This passion drives our associates to do some pretty incredible things in their work. Each quarter, four (or in the case of a tie like this quarter, five) associates are selected by their peers for a recent outstanding achievement in areas of Improved Product Quality, Increases Profitability, Revenue Growth, and Living our Values.
ASCENDING ASSOCIATES – Q4 2021
Mike Smith – Improved Product Quality
Mike came up with a great idea to add a black boarder on project artwork, making it easier to center the art for more accurate die-cutting and knocking some time off the job. He also switching up tools which also improved the process. His co-associates recognized him for his creative thinking.
Way to go Mike! Keep up the great work!
Miles Scheetz – Improved Product Quality
Miles was recognized by his peers when he took the time to go above-and-beyond and documented in writing some methods and instructions that he had developed with members of our technician team. As this job was the first time running a new exercise on our machines, it was important to capture what was learned so others may benefit in future runs.
“A lot of things motivate me to get out of bed [everyday] – from my morning routine of yoga and meditation to advancing my dream career of becoming an Engineer, but my biggest motivator by far is simply that I love what I do on a day-to-day basis,” said Miles. “I’m always looking forward to wrestling with rotary presses, chatting with my fellow associates, and growing to become a better person.”
Miles is a Rotary Press Conversion Operator Apprentice which entails setting up, running, and tearing down the manufacturing machines.
“As an apprentice, most of what I do is troubleshooting and fixing the rotary press I’m operating, which involves a lot of trial and error and asking more experienced operators for advice.”
Miles’ favorite project he’s worked on so far was setting up a press for a brand new job with another apprentice and an engineer. He appreciated the opportunity to learn by testing different ways to run the project until they found the most successful way.
Want to know a fun fact about Miles? He’s a master at swing dance! Though he says you’d never be able to tell because of how often he trips over his own feet!
Very cool Miles! You have been a wonderful addition to our team!
Redzife Babaca – Increases Profitability
Redzife is constantly challenging herself to process jobs under the estimated time allocated, consistently saving labor costs. Recently, she completed an order for 25,000 parts. Weeding and packaging hours were estimated at 68.05. She completed the operations in 46.94 hours, saving us and the customer 21.11 hours in labor cost!
Redzife said it’s easy for her to find the motivation to get up and come to work everyday because she loves her job.
“The workplace environment often has the biggest impact on on how motivated you are at work,” she said. “You thrive when you are part of an upbeat, supportive environment that gets you “in the zone” the you need to be in so that you succeed. That’s exactly what Innovize offers me here! I fortunately have a support team that helps motivate me and encourages me to be better at what I do.”
Redzife is focused on relationship building at Innovize, and encourages others to build their work relationships, too!
Redzife loves to travel, even if it’s just a road trip to a small town. She loves being able to experience new things and meet new people; she genuinely cares about all of those she meets.
You are a rock star Redzife! Thank you for all that you do!
Victor Pham – Living Our Values
Victor was recognized for coming in on a day that he normally doesn’t work to translate an onboarding and benefit meetings for some of our new associates who don’t have English as a first language. Your help was greatly appreciated, and helped to make a meaningful experience for our new team members.
Victor feels the love of the Innovize family; being able to see all of his co-associates is what motivates him to come to work every day.
He strives to make a difference at Innovize by spreading diversity and creating a better culture.
Victor has had the opportunity to work on several products at Innovize but two of his favorites involved a tattoo product and a product used to improve the lives of someone battling cancer.
We were lucky enough to scoop Victor up to start his journey at Innovize at the young age of 16. We hope to keep this valuable member of our team around for many years to come!
Your dedication to Innovize and additional time spent at work did not go unnoticed! We appreciate all that you do!
Matt Branum – Revenue Growth
Matt worked tirelessly, putting in 30+ hours on a Friday and Saturday to refine part of a project that eventually resulted in a flawless part. Working on night/weekend shifts also allowed us to maintain availability of one of our converting presses for upcoming jobs and avoided constraining press time. Many teams at Innovize were positively affected by Matt’s hard work on this project, and they recognized him for it!
Outstanding! Thank you for everything you do, Matt!
Check back in April to meet our first round of Ascending Associates in 2022!
