I'm currently the round stock (utility pole) and treating plant production supervisor at Stella Jones in Tacoma, WA.We currently treat approximately 90 MMBF of lumber and 1.2 million cubic feet of utility poles. Our customers include some of the largest around the nation and I currently am engaged in reducing the cycle time of each charge of lumber or poles and keeping the amount of preservative used to a minimum to: Reduce cost, limit environmental impact, and ensure quality.I supervise approximately 20 individuals depending on the time of year and encourage them to suggest improvements to the process whether it's through automation improvements or administrative controls.Safety is the first priority when it comes to our production. We encourage our employees to report near misses (that which could have led to an injury but did not), injury reports (No matter how minor), and any situation which may have led to an injury in general.Team work and communication are essential when working in such an environment and I encourage all our employees, whether I supervise them or not, to communicate with their lead or their supervisor to improve our safety, environmental, and production processes.

I've held a few positions in the company. I worked as a laborer for a period of one year and then moved to a quality control position which I held for 10 years. I'm currently in a new position in the company: Operations Analyst. My job is to help make decisions based on the data that we generate. How can we make this a better place and do so efficiently? Details include but are not limited to: Analyzing and improving retort capacity, forecasting production based on sales and plant efficiency/capacity and improving treating times and cycles based on quality control data.