Don’t Blink
by Jeff Meiners
Neil Henert & Jerry Lawrence at Neil’s retirement party at the Warehouse
Jim Spangler, Marty Barclay & Neil Henert
Jim Spangler in one of his going away presents
Not long ago Kenny Chesney had a song out about a 100 year old man being inteviewed who offered up his advice after 100 years of living which was - don’t blink – it all goes by so fast. At the end of this calendar year, we have three managers who are all retiring on the same day. While none of them are close to 100 years old, their combined time at Crest represents 109 years of experience that we will miss very much. A common sentiment between all three of them is that it all went by so fast. Neil Henert started with Crest in 1969 as a part time fill in until something bettercame along. After 45 years, he has finally found that something better in the form of retirement. Since Neil started before we had either a ware- house or a forklift, it is fair to say he started from ground zero at being the warehouse man ager. It’s hard to fath- om the number of changes he has been a part of in taking us from no warehouse space at all to over 300,000 square feet of storage and all the complexities that come with managing such an operation. Jim Spangler started with Crest in 1973 with his background as a plumber and an electrician. He took on the role of maintenance manager and eventually evolved into our facilities engineer. One could literally say that Jim built Crest Foods because over 20 construction projects since 1973 have all been under his guidance and that accounts for every building we have other than a portion of the facility on Main street and that building has been renovated several times since Jim started. Jim has taken us from plans being designed on the back of a napkin to sophisticated designs that would stack up against anything in the food industry. Marty Barclay, the rookie in this bunch, started with Crest in 1991 as the quality assurance manager for the packag ing division. His common sense approach to quality assurance ushered in a new era of quality for Crest packaging that has reacted to so many changes in industry and customer expectations that the operating parameters of 1991 and 2014 have only the very basics in common. Marty has also served as a member of the board of directors for a number of years. No doubt, our doors will still be open on January 1st and Crest will certainly survive without these three, but we will forever be changed by what they have done for Crest and more importantly how they did it. Good people make a good company and these are three of our best – we wish them well in retirement and they will always be a part of who we are.
8 Crest Ink January, February & March 2015
Made with FlippingBook - Online Brochure Maker