04 Feb Employee Profile: Organized Larry

Larry, a group leader over 22 people at the Aldez location in Georgetown, KY, joined the Aldez team with 27 years of experience as a supervisor in auto manufacturing production.

Having attended Berea College and begun his career in teaching, Larry quickly realized there was not a lot of money to be made in the teaching profession and pivoted his career. He started at Hitachi automotive and immediately found the work interesting. “I like the technology part and things that require me to learn fast,” explains Larry.  “And, I’m very organized and visual and this really translates well to the way cars are assembled.”  He started out as a machinist and worked up to production supervisor in just 7 months.

Larry comes from a military family and, while Larry chose college over a career in the military, he is fortunate for the discipline that he learned from his family members. “Military and leadership is in my blood,” shares Larry. 

Prior to Aldez, Larry had been working for the same company in automotive manufacturing for about 12 years. They had a buyout and when many employees were offered a deal to leave in the transition, Larry decided to accept the opportunity, knowing that he would look for other job in automotive.  

As luck would have it, when he first Interviewed at Aldez, they talked a lot to him about the things that need to be done when starting up a new location. Larry was thrilled with the process-orientation of the people he spoke with. “Process, order and creating standards is right up my alley.  I knew right away that it was a great fit and I would want to be here for a long time.”  

A further testament to Larry’s organized ways comes in his choice of hobbies. “I used to coach basketball as well as referee football and basketball,” shares Larry. “I like order and rules and sticking to a system.”  In addition to coaching and refereeing, Larry enjoys motorcycles. 

Now well-settled into Aldez, Larry is impressed that when he talks to other employees and members of the leadership team, he can feel a passion and ownership from them.  He enjoys the pride he can see on the faces of the other team members. 

The Aldez culture isn’t this way by accident. “Always communicate – this is a big thing in this company. Here, folks are always checking in with you and keeping you up to date, just like family does. In my experience at other companies, bosses like to drive you, but it is different at Aldez,” Larry continues. “I realize we’re all working here, but it doesn’t feel that way, it feels like family and it just makes you want to good for the business.”

And for Larry, wanting to make Aldez look good means safety and organization.  

“I like clean workspaces, and at Aldez, we maintain very high standards around our workspace, leveraging the 5S methodology,” said Larry.

“I’m so organized that, in my garage at home, I have everything tagged and the locations for all my tools have a nameplate.  My wife thinks I’m crazy, Larry chuckles.  “But I don’t have floor tape on the floor ­— yet.”