As Bedford Reinforced Plastics has grown, so has the career of Weyant native Kevin Ickes. Kevin got his first full-time job at BRP in 1986 as a general fabricator - cutting and drilling structural fiberglass components. "The managers here saw qualities in me and gave me the opportunity to grow with the company I grabbed hold of that opportunity and worked hard" he says. Kevin advanced rapidly, over the years working as a supervisor in a number of departments - mixing, research and development, fabrication, shipping and production. Today he is production manager, in control of 70 people who create the company's pultruded fiberglass profiles that are used in a variety of structural applications. He schedules production runs, works with sales staff to set delivery dates and oversees quality control.

"We take a lot of pride in our on-time delivery - more than 98 percent of all orders are shipped on-time, and we do $23 million in sales every year with very short lead times" he says. Kevin attributes that record to the quality of the employees. "I make it a point of trying to get to know all of our employees" he says. "That really helps me do my job. It's important to empower the people in your organization to make decisions and know they're an important part of a team" Kevin says. "One way supervision is out - if you want to earn respect you have to make people feel a part of the process. When we do run into problems I know the people, and they know me, and we all know what's expected and how to react. " Reacting quickly to avoid production delays is all part of the job, he says. "You've got to be able to work under pressure to survive in this job." It's also important to expand your own skills - something he's done through the company's extensive training programs. Kevin says he wanted to stay in Bedford County because of family and because he is an avid hunter and fishermen. "Mostly it was because of the people. There's something about our county and the people here that is special."

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