Three Decades of Adaptation for Changing Technology

The team of Mike Klepper, Dan Peschka and John Glassman could be viewed as the perfect illustration of a corporate philosophy come to life. After all, they bring 89 years of combined experience to the table.

All three men started out on the Superior Essex manufacturing-plant floor and now hold executive positions in the Hoisington [manufacturing facility]. Klep­per is Plant Manager, Peschka is Quality Manager and Glassman is Manufacturing Manager.

Manager at Work - Plant Manager Michael Klepper sifts through payroll reports at his desk in the Hoisington plant. "Mike's experience with the company makes him an ideal manager," says HR Director Jennifer Lagerman. "He is very organized, and knows all the ins and outs of our operations."

“Superior Essex has been a good, steady employer in Barton County,” Klepper commented. “The benefits and wages are competitive and this is a good work environment. There is also the opportunity to move up in the company.”

Ground was broken for the plant in 1973, and it manufactured its first product in late 1974. The Hoisington plant specializes in making com­munications cable; Atlanta-based Superior Essex is an industry leader for these cables, which are used for voice and data transmissions.

“Our customers include national telephone customers such as Verizon and AT&T as well as regional telephone companies such as Frontier, Fairpoint and CenturyLink,” Klepper explained. Other cus­tomers are distributors, such as Graybar, Anixter and Stanion Electric.”

Plant Profile - Superior Essex in Hoisington is an enormous facility running 24 hours a day, and employing nearly 260 people.

Superior Essex products can be found in homes, offices, Government buildings, military bases, colleges and Disneyworld. In other words – everywhere. “We make cable for the internet and telephone,” Klepper notes. “If you look around the office here, every jack in the wall has one of our cables.”

Superior Essex also makes magnet wire in some of its many locations around the world, but not at the Hoisington facility. Magnet wire is found in items such as industrial motors, transformers and generators. When the company was looking for a plant site, Hoisington was attractive for a number of reasons. It had close proximity to the railroad, I-70 and K-4.

“It was also a rural community with good people and good values,” Klepper noted.  And it has “absolutely” remained a good location, Klepper added. “The average years of service with the company are a testament to that.”

Step 1: Raw Materials - Copper is taken from these large baskets and taken through machinery that draws it down according to the product being produced. Colored plastic pellets are melted and extruded over the copper wire. "Copper is one of Superior Essex most prevalent raw materials," Lagerman says. "It is also one of our most expensive." Step 2: Compilation - Once the wire has been created, the next step is to combine them into larger products. The colored wires are twisted together. Step 3: Twisting - Here, the colored wires are being twisted and brought together into one, larger product. The larger finished product is again wrapped in a plastic coating for protection using proprietary machinery operated by Superior Essex Employees. Step 4: Packaging - A Superior Essex employee seals a large reel of finished communications cable before shipment. "Not all of our finished products are this large," Lagerman says. "Most of our product gets shipped out in palletized boxes or on spools."

Prior to the 2004 Superior Essex expansion, the average length of service was 13 years; that decreased slightly only because of the new hires. The average service for salaried employees is 16 years. Klepper has been at Superior Essex for almost 35 years, Peschka for 35 and Glassman for 19.

The other 255 employees work in a variety of positions with a wide range of skill sets. There are professional engineers, in­sulating operators, jacketing operators and twisting operators, as well as those who work in shipping/receiving, maintenance and quality assurance – to name a few departments.

One of many reasons for the longevity could be the popular work schedule, noted Dan Peschka. The plant runs two 12-hour shifts a day but employees work two days on, two days off, with a three-day weekend every other week.

Thirty-five percent of the employees live in Great Bend and 30 percent in Hoisington. The balance commutes from surrounding communities, including Hays and Wilson.

The company’s success “really gets down to the employees we have,” Klepper said. “For example, because of employees with this commitment level, we recently achieved the SHARP award.” The acronym stands for Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program.

“This is a safety-excellence award,” explained Jennifer Lagerman, Human Resources Manager, who has been with the Company 10 years. “It is through the Kansas Department of Labor. They have certain criteria and thoroughly audit the plant, looking for OSHA compliance. (OSHA stands for the federal Oc­cupational Safety and Health Administration.)

“This usually takes three to five years to achieve,” Lagerman said. “We did it in five months. We are extremely proud of this.”

While some people may recoil at the thought of change in the workplace, change is the name of the game at Superior Essex. Employees must have flexibility to move from one product to another and adapt to upgrades in equipment. “Employees have been able to adapt to business conditions, changes in the culture,” Klepper said. “Our employees are good with change. We know we have to do it to stay competitive.”

Storage - A Superior Essex employee takes inventory in the newest part of the plant's warehouse. "We expanded our warehouse in 2007, adding fourteen thousand more square feet of storage space," HR Manager Jennifer Lagerman says.

John Glassman noted the company has an extremely large product line, which is where the day-to-day changes come in. “We try to accommodate with a short lead time,” Glassman said. “We deliver in the least amount of time possible. There is a lot of cross-training.”

In addition, Superior Essex is involved in product development, which results in the engineers working with Glassman’s group and Peschka’s group. This collaboration allows the company to keep up with cutting-edge technology for its products and in-house machinery. “Most of our equip­ment has some degree of automation, such as touch screens,” Klepper said. “This helps reduce training time and operator error using normal pushbuttons, dials and gauges. With the number of products we have, we need that flexibility.

“The employees may know their lines are making one product today but that may not be the case tomorrow,” Klepper continued. “With automation, we don’t have to remember as much information.”

Expert Engineers - Superior Essex Engineers examine the plant's equipment to make sure it is functioning properly. "A handful of our employees, including the engineers, are responsible for research and development," says Lagerman.

Two environmentally friendly and “green” priorities at the plant are recycling and energy effi­ciency. In 2006, almost 44 percent of materials were recycled and last year that percentage was at about 92. “And if you were to ask me about a significant impact on the work environment, it would be the installa­tion of energy-efficient heating and air conditioning through the whole plant,” Klepper said. “We really work on energy reduction, air quality, sound quality and safety.”

The plant also has a Safe Room, which was built in response to the devastating 2001 Hoisington tornado.
Superior Essex is a Registered ISO 9000 company, which is a quality-standard program it has been involved in for two decades. Its communication-cable sister plants are in Tarboro, N.C., and Brownwood, TX.

The national economy definitely had its effect on business in 2009 but “we had a good plan and put it into effect. There was no reduction in force. Last year was a good year and this year is a continuance of last year,” Klepper said.

Lab Work - Superior Essex has a dedicated lab for product development and quality assurance testing. "We check our product thoroughly to make sure it's of the highest quality," says Lagerman. "We even freeze it to see how it handles extreme temperatures."

Not only are Superior Essex employees dedicated to the job, they also go the extra mile in their community.  And the Company is fiscally generous as well.  Recipi­ents of good corporate-citizen donations include the Clara Barton Foun­dation, United Way, Barton Community College Foundation, American Cancer Society, Relay for Life and Kans for Kids.

Superior Essex is involved in helping with Christmas decorations on Hoisington’s Main Street, contributing to various after-prom events and school carnivals, and also funds a private local Superior Essex scholarship fund.  The Company also has a “Dollars for Doers” program which encourages volunteerism of its employees and also a matching contributions program to encourage charitable giving.  Recently, Hoisington employees demonstrated their generosity when they donated their quarterly safety award to purchase over $4000 worth of toys to donate to the St. Francis Academy toy drive this past Christmas.  

“The corporation encourages this,” Klepper said. “We have individuals within the company that work on boards, committees and with the chamber of commerce. We encourage that involvement, that participation.”