Interview with Roy Interview with Roy Jackson at Jackson at SouthwireSouthwire

Presenter: Brendan Walker

Mercer University Macon, GA

4/7/2008 1IDM 288

IntroductionIntroduction

• Background of Southwire• College Experience• Career Path• Job Responsibility• Job Details• Basic Facts• Questions/Discussion

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Background of SouthwireBackground of Southwire• Founded on March 23, 1950 by Roy

Richards, Sr.• Plants are located throughout North

America• Headquarters in Carrollton, GA• Design and Manufacture building wire

and utility cable

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Background of SouthwireBackground of Southwire

• World leader in copper and aluminum rod production

• Supply the nation’s top 135 leading power companies• 1/5 of all homes in U.S. contain Southwire products

• Also leader in new technology• Hold 240 patents in over 40 countries

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College ExperienceCollege Experience

• Helpful classes• Organizational Behavior• Manufacturing Processes• Case Studies• Classes with simulation and designing Lean Systems

• “Worthless” classes• Accounting• Marketing• Physics

• Summer Internship at Southwire before Senior year

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Career PathCareer Path

• Graduated with a degree in IDM in 2006• Started working at Southwire 2 weeks after

Graduation• Internship allowed him the opportunity to

interview for positions at Southwire• Hired as an Industrial Engineer• Promoted to Plant Manager one year later

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Career PathCareer Path

• Current title is Materials and Shipping Manager• He has been Materials Manager for 9 months and

just became Shipping manager 1 month ago

• Did not get his MBA• He was going to get his MBA at Georgia State but

he had to withdraw because he had no time to do it

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Job ResponsibilityJob Responsibility

• Responsible for 3 separate plants in Carrollton, GA• Works primarily at one of the plants but does

travel to other two plants daily

• Responsible for 550 hourly paid workers• Responsible for 50 salaried workers• Works closely with 5 employees who are not

engineers and his shipping supervisor

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Job DetailsJob Details

• Usually gets 1or more goals the he needs to accomplish at the beginning of the each month• Example goals: To improve efficiency by a certain

amount, To improve production by a certain amount

• It’s his job to make sure that the plants achieve these goals

• He coordinates with the 5 close employees about planning and scheduling

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Job DetailsJob Details

• He does know about Lean and Six Sigma but they don’t use that at Southwire• They use Operational Perfection at Southwire(OPS)

which is a mix of everything• Works 7 am – 6 pm, 5 days a week• Works 9 am – noon on weekends every other

week• Has a laptop to always check how the plants are

doing• Says he is “completely absorbed in his work”

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Basic FactsBasic Facts• Travel - just to one of the 3 plants daily• Benefits - Full insurance and a very competitive

salary• Dress code - Khaki’s and a collared shirt• Future - See’s himself as a Plant Manager unless

he gets a promotion or goes to work on the corporate side

• “The Goal” - He has read this novel and says this does happen in the real world but a company is usually not as bad as the one in the book

• Says the most important things for engineers are Process improvement and Capital Project Justification

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Questions/DiscussionQuestions/Discussion

• Contact Information• Brendan Walker• Brendan.jeffrey.walker@student.mercer.edu• 904 233 0858

• Interviewee Information• Roy Jackson• Roy_Jackson@southwire.com

• Company Information• www.southwire.com

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