2017 Young Professional Network Mentor Award Winner: Q+A Session
By Laurie Walker, MHI Senior Membership Coordinator
Each year, MHI member companies have the opportunity to submit their employees for the MHI Young Professionals Network Mentor Award.
We were proud to announce at PROMAT 2017 the winner of the MHI Mentor Award is Pete Saladis from the Raymond Corporation.
We were recently able to catch up with Pete to learn more about him.
Tell us a little about yourself.
I grew up in Staten Island, New York. I started working as a Field Technician for the telephone company in Brooklyn right after I graduated from Binghamton University with a Bachelor’s in History and a minor in Economics. During my first three years at that job, I earned my MBA by taking night classes. After completing my master’s degree, I moved to upstate New York to take on a managerial role. I joined the Raymond Corporation in 2011 as an Assembly Line Manager. I’m married to my college sweetheart, Kelly, and we have 2 kids: my son Domenic is 11, and my daughter Emily is 9. I am an avid runner, and I enjoy reading. I’m also active in Boy Scouts, my local volunteer fire department and coaching youth sports.
What position do you currently hold at Raymond?
I’m currently the Assembly Operations Manager at Raymond. I’m responsible for daily operations and strategic planning of 6 assembly lines.
When you were first beginning your career, did you have a leader or mentor that helped to guide you through the start of your career? What type of impact did they have on you?
Sadao Nomura is a Japanese quality consultant who was sent to Raymond several times a year when we were first acquired by Toyota. He would come and tour the plant and review our efforts to improve quality results and efficiency. He wrote detailed handwritten “memos” as homework assignments for us to follow in between his visits. He was very hard on all of us, from Development Engineering all the way through to final assembly. He put a lot of pressure on the leadership team here to be responsible—for the work environment, tools, part presentation, for everything. He taught me a great deal—I am still affected by his teachings. He had a profound impact on how I visualize problems, the amount of thought, care and planning I put into my job. Back in 2011, the year I was hired at Raymond, he left us a memo on training after one of his visits. Looking back, I barely understood what he was trying to tell us at the time. It wasn’t until I re-read the memo 5 years later that the lessons he was trying to teach us about training became clear to me. His vision in giving us those instructions, even though he probably knew we weren’t ready for it yet, amazes me.
What is the best advice that you can offer to a young professional starting a career in supply chain and material handling?
Read widely about our industry and learn as much as you can about all of the different segments of the economy that supply chain and material handling touch, which is just about all of it. Everything is so connected now, it is extremely limiting to be too specialized in what we think about. You can get stale in 24 hours; always look to broaden your perspective of the work you do. Secondly, make sure you know who your customers are—internal and external. Never forget that if you manage people, your employees are your customers. Finally, immerse yourself in the work you do from your customers’ perspective. Every time you want to change something or start a new initiative ask yourself the question, “Will this help my customer?” Your customers will appreciate it, and so will your employer. Having this attitude will make you an invaluable resource to both.
What professional accomplishment are you most proud of?
Since coming to Raymond, I’ve watched two people earn promotions into line leadership positions that started on the assembly line. I am very proud to have been able to watch them develop into strong forward-looking leaders. I think we are much stronger as a company with these two young men in leadership roles, and it was a privilege for me to help them along the way.
Submissions for the Mentor Award are accepted at the start of each year, with the winner being announced at ProMat and MODEX.
The Mentor Award is awarded to an MHI member who offers professional guidance, is a positive and inspiring role model, instills and nurtures talent, advocates for employees and supports their professional development.
If you know of someone that would be a candidate for this award, be on the lookout for submission forms in January or check back on the MHI Young Professionals Network webpage. For questions, please contact the MHI membership team.
