Grooming Young Leaders

Lance Horn (left) and Robbie Walters (center), lead machinists, stand with fellow shopfloor co-worker Ronald Poe (right).

Young employees often do not get enough credit for their efforts and abilities. It's natural for well-seasoned veterans on the job to assume younger employees lack not only experience but also a strong work ethic and respect for their surroundings. But of course that's not always an accurate assessment.

For our July issue we visited a shop in Clay City, Ky., that is capitalizing on the potential of a couple of talented young machinists. Robbie Walters, 19, is the lead setup man on verticals, and Lance Horn is the lead on the Swiss machines. They literally went the extra mile during high school, being bused to the next county for vocational training that was not offered locally.

Today, Wayne Collins, director of machine operations, views these two young machinists, along with the other shop floor personnel, as the driving force behind the company's success. "What makes our quality? It’s the people," he says. "We have great machines and great equipment, but if the people running it don’t care, nothing will improve around you."

Robbie and Lance are quick to point out the strong influence Wayne has had on their development as well. "Don't let him fool you," Lance says about Wayne. "He's had as much to do with our company's growth as anyone." But when such talent can be found even in employees relatively new to the industry, the future looks pretty bright.

Read more about Scott Archery and the ways creative workholding solutions have helped increase the company's productivity in "Hitting the Target with Creative Workholding."