Yazoo is proud to announce Kevin Boyer’s advancement to Electrical Controls and Automation Technician.
Boyer joined Yazoo’s Maintenance Department in 2018 as a Maintenance Mechanic. Within a year, he was quickly promoted to Maintenance Lead. Although Kevin has only been with Yazoo for three short years, his technical ability and innovative mindset has led him to this current promotion.
In his new position, his main focus will be the automation and electrical side of Maintenance. He will be working on various automation projects, updating and backing up current systems, helping maintenance with electrical needs and collaborating with his department to maintain equipment efficiency throughout the plant that leads to reducing machine down time and maintenance costs.
Why Yazoo? Boyer says “I like Yazoo’s willingness to invest in innovation which allows me to create new ways of doing things with the use of technology.”
In his spare time, you can find him spending time with his family, finding new trails to hike and reading. Fun fact – in 2020, Kevin read 64 (mostly nonfiction) books!
Congrats on your promotion, Kevin! We are excited to watch you grow and take Yazoo’s Maintenance Department to the next level!
We are proud to announce that Norma Myers has been promoted to Supervisor in the Recut Department. During her 29-year tenure at Yazoo Mills, she has held numerous positions in the Recut Department starting out as a packer and working her way into her most current role as a Supervisor. Myers came to Yazoo with a manufacturing background, which is an industry she has always enjoyed working in.
In her new role, she manages 13 employees in the automatic recutter area. She ensures that her team is continuously checking quality, maintaining productivity, and moving workaround for her department to remain as efficient as possible.
She says “I would not be where I am today if it weren’t for my team members and keeping the ‘never stop learning’ mentality. Yazoo has given me opportunities to learn and train which in return allows me to contribute to helping our customers receive the best quality products in the industry.”
The advice she would give to our younger workers? She says “Be open-minded and grow with the company. If you are willing to apply yourself, future opportunities will present themselves. Be prepared to adapt and look for ways to continue helping the company evolve. Never be afraid to share an idea.”
Fun fact:
Question: If you could travel anywhere, where would it be?
Norma: I would definitely fly back to Vegas with my sister to explore the city and try my luck at a few games to hopefully win big!
We are proud to have Norma on our team and look forward to watching her lead continue to lead the Recut department to success. Congrats, Norma!
Yazoo Mills has successfully been in business since 1902 and has maintained a strong foundation in the manufacturing world for over a century. We’ve dedicated the last 117 years to finding the right people to not only help us be the leader in the tube and core industry but also to grow with our company. Through hard work and dedication, we are pleased to announce the recent promotion of Jordan McSherry to his new role of Recut Lead.
Jordan, an 8-year Yazoo Mills veteran, started his manufacturing career with a local global defense company as a Military Tank Assembler, before joining our company as a Machine Operator in the Recut Department. After a few short works, he quickly became a set-up person, setting up the machines to cut the tubes. His eagerness to learn led him to become a trainer in the Recut Department. Soon after, he was then promoted to a Floater position.
His current position as Lead includes scheduling jobs to ensure timely completion of orders, checking quality, overseeing team members in his department and answering questions as well as supporting his teammates when needed. When asked what he likes best about working at Yazoo, he said “It’s a great place to work. I like that it is a family-owned business that takes care of their employees and treats them like their own.” He continued on to say, “I enjoy the work that I do and feel that my work is appreciated by my management as well as the entire company.” In his spare time, you can find Jordan with his wife, two daughters (2 years old and 1 month) as well as hunting, going to the beach and enjoying a nice boat ride.
Congrats on your promotion, Jordan! You play a key role in our success and we are lucky to have you on our team!
Sales. It’s a special department that takes a special kind of person to be a part of. No two days are a like and most days, you’re running full-force, never walking. A sales person is also a problem solver and has passion for helping people. Meet Wanda Bankert – a seasoned 20-year-veteran at Yazoo Mills, working in our Sales Department as a Senior Sales Associate, with her primary focus in quoting.
Wanda’s day starts as soon as the alarm goes off at 5:45am. Well, okay, maybe after hitting the snooze button once, for 10 minutes… the day officially starts. She hops in the shower, brews a fresh cup of coffee filled with lots of caffeine needed to power through the work day, finishes getting ready, packs her lunch and then she’s out the door, on her way to work.
Once Wanda arrives at work around 8am, she checks her email for quotes, orders and questions about previous quotes. Her main focus throughout the majority of the day is understanding customer’s needs, finding solutions for their industry and providing a quote for high-quality paper tubes or cores. Wanda is responsible for managing 100+ customer accounts each month as well as setting up new accounts, working with customers on in-line printing, custom printed liners and labels. Additionally, she helps enter orders and assists with volume quotes.
After all of her quotes have gone out for the day, Wanda follows-up with customers on supplied sales quotes and reviews new opportunities with them. For her, it’s all about the customers. She says “I enjoy working with the customers and focusing on their needs for tubes and cores. It’s interesting to hear how they use our products.”
A few fun facts about Wanda:
Dream vacation: Travel out West
Favorite food: Shrimp – anything seafood!
Fun Facts: She loves spending time with family, especially her 8-month-old grandson, visiting local wineries, sitting around a campfire, going shopping for primitive decorations/antiques for her house (loves to decorate) and helps organize a fundraiser at her church every year for Make-A-Wish
Happy National Manufacturing Week! This week has been recognized since 2012 and has grown pretty impressively over the years. Manufacturing week is worldwide and engages over 600,000 participants, including close to 300,000 students! It was created to open the minds of the next generation, inspiring more young people to come and join the world of manufacturing.
On Tuesday, October 2, 2018, Yazoo hosted 13 seniors from South Western High School’s Step-Ahead program. The Step-Ahead program allows seniors to go to school for half days and then work the remainder of the day in the field they are interested in. We welcomed the students and opened with a brief company history video. We then took the students on a tour of our New Oxford manufacturing facility, giving them a taste of what we do firsthand. The students were able to see that manufacturing jobs are still alive and well, the type of jobs we offer, how a career in modern manufacturing is very rewarding, the skillsets we are looking for during our hiring process and the great benefits our employees receive working for a top-rated company like Yazoo.
According to MFG DAY, here are a few statistics from students that participated in Manufacturing Week:
- 89% are more aware of manufacturing jobs in their communities
- 84% are more convinced that manufacturing provides careers that are interesting and rewarding
- 64% are more motivated to pursue careers in manufacturing
- 71% are more likely to tell friends, family, parents, etc. about manufacturing after attending an event
We are excited to see the next generation excel in modern day manufacturing and bring fresh new ideas to the table to prepare companies for the future ahead.
The last and final phase of the expansion at our Hanover Distribution Center is finally complete. We wouldn’t be able to operate as one of the leading manufacturers of 100% recycled paper tubes and cores if we didn’t have the state-of-the-art equipment like we do. Yazoo Mills is consistently reinvesting in our people, our equipment, and our facilities to remain an industry leader.
Phase four of the production expansion at our Hanover Distribution Center included the installation of five winders custom built to fit Yazoo’s specifications. The installation of the winders have helped create more scheduling flexibility, assisted the company to enhance efficiency with processing more orders and has added an additional 20,000 square feet of manufacturing space. The additional winding capacity will allow Yazoo to remain the supplier of choice and industry leader with consistent quality, excellent service, and continue to have the fastest shipping time in the industry at 48 hours, guaranteed. Between our two manufacturing facilities, Yazoo now operates a total of 15 winders.
Communication, coordination, and teamwork were major key factors during the several months of planning it took to prepare and layout the new manufacturing space. Yazoo’s supervisors and Maintenance Department worked together with the winding machine manufacturing companies to guarantee that the winding lines were designed and built to meet Yazoo’s specifications.