At Innovize, we have outstanding associates that are passionate about our purpose of creating a culture and products that improve people’s lives. This passion drives our associates to do incredible things every day in their work. Each quarter, five associates are selected by their peers for a recent outstanding achievement in areas of Improved Product Quality, Increases Profitability, Revenue Growth, Meaningful Experience, and Living our Values.

ASCENDING ASSOCIATES – Q3 2022

Eric Held – Improved Product Quality

Eric Held, a valued technician, was recognized for the work he did to clean up some material that wasn’t up to Innovize standards. 750 sheets of Epoxy sheets had debris on them and were in jeopardy of being scrapped, costing Innovize thousands of dollars. Eric scrubbed all of those sheets in the background of his other jobs, leaving them looking better than when they arrived from our supplier.

Eric says he is motivated to do amazing work like this because he sees the impact that Innovize, and our products, have on people’s lives. He is a jack of all trades at Innovize, doing shearing, die cutting, screen making, hand assembly, operating several types of machinery, and so much more. He has worked on several projects during the course of his time at Innovize and loves being able to do new things and see all of the different projects that come through.

He mentions that the people he works with have always been family to him. And speaking of family, Eric will be welcoming his first grandson in January! Congratulations Eric, and thank you for all that you do!

Sam Dang – Increases Profitability

Sam impressed us all when he kept pace with one of our seasoned operators as she ran a job on one of our machines. Because of Sam’s speed and efficiency, they were able to reduce catchers on the job from four, to just one – even when the pace picked up.

“What motivates me to wake up and go to work is that I get to learn new things … and always [get] the opportunity to challenge myself,” said Sam.

As a technician at Innovize, Same gets to be involved in several projects at Innovize, and see the variety of products we make as he catches product off the manufacturing line, works on final pack-out of a product, and generally helps to keep jobs running.

“My favorite project I have been working on is [learning] how to run the Doyen machine,” said Sam. “The Doyen machine makes pouches for different jobs that need pouching.”

Fun fact about Sam: He is actually from Philadelphia and he loves to travel and go camping/hiking with his two dogs, pictured below.

Way to go Sam! It’s associates like you that fuel Innovize’s success!

Tom Murray – Living Our Values

Tom is the kind of guy you want to have around – a true life saver. Tom stepped in when a fellow associate was having trouble swallowing some food during lunch. As a member of our safety team and our first responder team, Tom didn’t hesitate to jump into action and perform the Heimlich maneuver, effectively ending the scary situation before it got out of hand.

Tom says the people at Innovize are like a second family – no wonder he swooped in to help one of our associates in need.

“My goal is to keep all associates safe [and] to go home to their families each and every day,” said Tom.

Tom enjoys doing ergonomic assessments and completing safety walks at Innovize. One of his favorite projects that he has worked on so far was finding a new way to emboss a part number on a product which eliminated the risk of a wrist injury during the process.

Tom is a loyal member of our Innovize family, having started his days here back when Innovize was called GML in 1991.

Excellent, Tom! We appreciate you keeping all of us safe and thriving!

Asif Bacchus – Meaningful Associate Experience

Asif is the ultimate team player. While working a different project, Asif overheard a group of associates talking about items they needed for another job. All of the things they mentioned needing, Asif found or shared, and really set the team up for success. What a meaningful experience he was able to provide those individuals.

“Throughout my first year at Innovize, [I have been] blessed to work with such a great team,” said Asif. “I’m challenged and at the same time, encouraged to find creative ways to solve problems. I’m grateful for the great leaders we have who inspire me every day to be passionate and to love my job.”

Asif’s favorite project at Innovize has been making an adhesive part that is used for monitoring blood sugars.

“It’s the first project I’ve worked on and [I] learned so much from it,” he said.

Amazing work, Asif! It’s been great having you on our team not only for the work you do in production, but also for your passion for our philanthropic efforts, making tie blankets for the patients at the U of M Masonic Children’s Hospital!

Parey Hunter – Revenue Growth

Parey was recognized at Innovize for some outstanding work she did to secure additional material for one of Innovize’s largest standing jobs.

Innovize is under strict allocation that only allows a small allotted quantity of material to be purchased each month, but Parey’s continued pursuit and hard work convinced our supplier to provide a second release, which will allow Innovize to keep a critical program up and running.

Awesome work Parey! Keep it up!

Congratulations, again, to all of our Ascending Associates!

Check back in January to meet our Q4 Rockstars!