Criteria

Schedules work & materials in a timely manner
Has superior organizational skills
Participates in continuing education programs for self improvement
Brings jobs in within budget
Demonstrates superior manpower skills:
    Hiring
    Promotions
    Incentives
Maintains a reasonable backlog of work
Solves firewall problems
Handles disputes & customers in a professional manner.
Promotes efficiency on the job
Disciplines with dignity
Maintains a safe work environment
Team Player
    Acts with company mission in mind
    Interacts positively with sales dept.
Maintains a positive work environment

Nominations:

Danny Argote - Istueta Roofing

If anyone has even come in contact with Danny at least once, they probably can tell you that they felt very comfortable around him. That is because Danny has that kind of effect, he makes people feel comfortable. His kind but firm personality are a plus when dealing with customers out in the field, and this makes him the great production manager he is. Danny is a problem solver, he is always willing to go the extra mile to solve an issue and in a way that satisfies both company and customer. He always has a positive outlook on things and always manages to remain calm during the storm.

But it isn’t only Danny’s natural social skills that make his job such a success. He comes from more than 30 years of combined experience in the contracting and supply industries, giving him the knowledge to detect problems even before they arise and prevent them. 

Danny is an asset to any company, and we feel lucky and honored to have him as part of the team at Istueta Roofing.

Jennifer Balesteri - Scudder Roofing 

Nominated by Charlie Gindele

Jennifer continues to do an outstanding job as production manager. She oversees more than 12 different roofing crews (about 40 employees) who do residential and commercial work, both new and replacement. Despite sales being off plan, her production team has made up for this in additionmal work orders and her team is on plan for revenue and gross profit margin YTD. The spirit and morale of her staff are high. She conducts the company's monthly "Raise the Roof" TQM meeting which has helped to improve the company in many ways. She has implemented policies and processesthat have improved quality and reduced accounts receivable.  

Jeremy Estrada - Norton's Quality Exteriors

Nominated by Ross Fisher

Jeremy is what a production manager is all about.  Look up Production Manager in the encyclopedia and you will find a picture of Jeremy Estrada.  Jeremy is a perfect example to all of us.  Not only does he have Norton's running like clockwork, Jeremy donates his time to helping others in CCN as much as he can.  Jeremy could do notheing more to deserve this award.

Nominated by Tim Brown Jr.
Jeremy is what every owner wants in an employee. As a subcontractor to him, I love working with him. He does everything to ensure that we work in harmony. Jer helps us with our company in so many ways. As far as being the best production manager he is perfect in his scheduling, can do the ten step resolution process in his sleep, he has the respect of every one of his project managers, as well as, all contractors. As a former installer, he knows how long things actually take and schedules it accordingly. He has helped out in the last few conferences by running the blue collar masterminds as well as running other sessions at the quarterly conferences. Bottom line, Jeremy deserves this award.

Nominated by Sylvia Fenton
Jeremy is extraordinary in dealing with hectic, stressful situations and never losing his cool.  He works hard and the hours it takes to get the job done.  He is a straight shooter both with customers and our installers.  While he doesn't mince words, he doesn't offend.  If an installer abuses the systems, etc., he is tough and gets right to the point.  As a result, the installers respect him and look up to him.  It is the rare exception that we get a call from a customer wondering what's going on.  He is available to the customer and communicates with them at appropriate times.  He is excellent at following and implementing the CCN guidelines.  He is a tremendous aasset to our company and a joy to work with.

Patrick Fick - Fick Brothers Roofing

Nominated by Stacy Desch

I remember the day that Patrick started working at Fick Bros. years and years ago.  He came on board as an Estimator, and has grown leaps and bounds since then.  Changes in the Company over the years have required him to step up to the plate and take on an enormous amount of responsibility; it was a load that not many would be able to handle as tenaciously as he did. 

He is now (not only) our Vice President, but also our Production Manager.  Patrick has an immense amount of dedication to the company, to its employees, and to continuing to carry the “Fick” name with respect, honor and an amount of professionalism that is persistently seen in the way he works.  He manages to keep the company flowing smoothly, and also maintains a strong dedication to his family as a husband and father. 

He carries the traits that are necessary to be successful, and has always given beyond his means to maintain a company that I am proud to work for. 

He is the epitome of this award; reliable, organized, caring, detailed, and most of all – dedicated to a job that he consistently takes to heart.

Gary Gustafson - Capizzi Home Improvement

Nominated by Tom Capizzi

2007 will the 5th year I have nominated Gary Gustafson for Production Manager of the year.  
Now more than ever, after 6 years in the Production Manager roll at our company, Gary is most deserving of this honor due in part to his unwavering pursuit to be successful in all that he does.  Gary performs all of the required duties at his position at levels others model themselves after. The results speak for themselves.  His customer satisfaction levels remain over 90%.  His change order success, which are the best measurement of how satisfied his customers are, generally result in many CCN awards and have been over $500,000 annually.

 He manages in excess of $2,000,000 in sales per year. He recruits the required staff, holds annual interviews and is a constant resource for all of our staff.

Gary is constantly teaming up with others to help them, the company and himself be more successful. His energy, tenacity and commitment to our company and our customers has proven to be a powerful force that has made a tremendous impact on the standards we now do business by.

Nominated by Maggie Kelly
I would like to nominate Gary Gustafson for Production Manager of the Year. Gary meets all of the criteria for this honor.  He is exceptionally organized. He has a system for everything from organizing remodel jobs to approving invoices. There is a time and a place for everything. Yet he is flexible enough to give time to the new people on the admin staff to help them learn thier jobs. His jobs are so well run they always come in on time and usually under budget.  He is professional with customers and employees. We have very little turn over in the field staff and subcontractors because of his hiring and managing skills and we have some of the most talented and skilled guys in the area working for us. Gary knows how the company works so well, he can spot a potential problem or hole in the firewall well before it becomes a serious problem. Though he is very competative for himself, he is also competative for the company. He wants our company to be the best. He works hard to show that.

Nominated by Tony Pola
I have seen 10 Production Managers go thru the company and Gary is the first to so sucessfully run the remodeling aspect that it surpasses home improvements in gross profits.

Nominated by Jack Strumski
I am nominating G.G. for production manager of the year and for Gary to not win this award would be a blunder. Gary's AWA total in the 21/2 years that I have been with CHI have been thru the roof, his customer satisfaction numbers are in the 90% range. This guy works hard at this job and deserves the award, he pushes the CCN process thruout the company. I feel that by training with GG when I first started was one of the best things that could ever have happened. Bottom line is he deserves this award.

Catherine Honigsberg - Maggio Roofing 

Nominated by Scott Siegal

Catherine Honigsberg was awarded Rookie Production Manager of the Year last year. Prior to this she was a two time office manager of the year award winner.  This year she deserves to win Production Manager of the Year.  The reasons are simple…she gets the job done and she does it better than anyone I have ever seen!  She has effectively scheduled our work so that we have maintained a normal steady backlog.  The work that has been installed has been done so that we have attained a 61% Gross Profit Margin.  She has increased production by 19% over the previous year, all while only hiring a mere 5 additional employees!  The scheduling has been so efficient that our budgets are consistently met and “beaten”.  This has led to our employees sharing in over $50,000 in bonuses.  Catherine has been able to do this through effective training and teamwork.  It is not unusual for her to not only peform her job, but to help other companies that call for help.  She has become very good at handling customers and training our production staff to handle customers.  This has led to almost 49% of our work to come from referrals and repeat customers!  She always acts with the best interest of the company and employees.  I couldn’t imagine a better or more efficient production manger.

Nominated by Suzanne Carney
I would like to nominate Catherine Honigsberg for the “Production Manager of the Year” award.  Catherine has flawlessly transitioned from Administration to Production.  She brought her organization and office experience to our Production department and has forever changed it.  Catherine does a great job assisting our sales department with customer issues, and she ensures that our field workers are trained for their tasks.  She has successfully increased the interaction that our foremen have with our customers.  Due to proper training, our foremen write their own change orders and collect more final payments than in years past.  Catherine’s devotion to this area of our company has brought us more referral business.

Miguel Moreno - Mr. Roofing, Inc. 

Nominated by Carlos Rodriguez

We simply can't keep up with him! I thought we were going to bury him this year because we added 2 new salesmen and had a very ambitious revenue goal. I felt that he wouldn't know how to handle our production goal and all the extra work that we have sold.   To my surprise,  Miguel is keeping us right on track to meet our goal and have the best year in our history. By June of this year, he had already managed production to install more work than the previous whole year. Production has increased by 48.7% compared to last year while maintaining a 49.1% gross profit on work installed. He has successfully found the right crew mix, hired staff, and trained them to maintain such high performance. Warranty callbacks are less than 0.5% of gross revenue, an all time low for us. Finally, a third party polled our customers and 98.2% said they would use Mr. Roofing again.   Miguel is a 2 time graduate of Blue Collar Management and you find him in the office before anyone reading his manual. The roofing industry is lucky to have a person like Miguel and we are lucky to have him on our team! Richard Kaller would say that production is where the rubber meets the road; Miguel has got us winning the race each year!