12. APRIL 26, 2015
A PRODUCTION MANAGER is involved with the planning, coordination, and control of manufacturing processes; but we aren’t just any manufacturing company. We are the backbones of buildings that have stood the test of DAVID REECE, time. Director/Production It takes a real Manager. (GP) talented group of people to bring to life drawings, and though times have changed that is what David Reece has – a talented team of individuals that like the rest of departments are the strength of this company. But how did Mr Reece do it over the years? DAVID REECE I started working at Structural Systems Ltd in August 1979. I was hired as Production Manager, but proposed to Mr Williams that before taking up my position that I be allowed to work in each department under a senior workman doing whatever was required in that department. After having worked in all of the departments, I was formally appointed production manager. In those days, professional advancement through the company meant knowing the company inside out. Knowing each machine, how to maintain and repair equipment, how to build machinery like all the cranes at Structural Systems Limited. Once that was achieved then you began understanding the numbers side of the company. As time went on, you earned respect, you earned trust, and that is how I have worked for Structural Systems Ltd. Over the years what I have found to be challenging is making sure that the employees are happy doing what they are supposed to do, and that materials, equipment, and tools are at hand
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PRODUCTION TEAM: (From left), Carmel Ifill (manufacturing supervisor), Jillian Nicholls (metal products supervisor), and David Reece (Director/Production Manager). (GP) to get the job done efficiently. Finishing the job and delivering the job on time can also be challenging at times, and ensuring that customers get what they want. The most challenging and frustrating time spent at Structural Systems Ltd though, was the time spent planning the layout of our new plant at Cane Garden, and the step-by-step movement of all the machinery from Warrens to Cane Garden without compromising the delivery of our products to our customers. In the early days, everyone did anything. Everything was a new adventure, nothing was unachievable. If you didn’t know how to do it, you found a way to get it done. I remember one day that Mr Williams gave me my first project to build a rack for the shot blaster and he almost choked me for building it, not to the way he wanted it built. We both learnt a lesson that day; always make sure that everyone understands, that they are on the same page and drawings should not be done on cigarette boxes.
While things have changed over the years with respect to how things are done, we continue to employ good people and we have made great strides in doing things better and more efficiently. Back then, we found interesting ways of completing a task that might not have been the most safe and efficient way of accomplishing it. Once we had a big anchor about two and a half tons in weight, about eight to ten feet tall that was completely rusted up; nothing would move this rust.
We were at Warrens then and the captain had lost the original one off of Carlisle Bay; so we took the anchor and put it up on a big open space where we kept the stock beams. We found every wooden pallet on the compound, every piece of wood and covered the anchor; every cardboard box, paper, you name it, and anything that could burn we used it. It was the first time Warrens was ever that clean. We lit up the anchor, but there was an oversight as we had the forklift and Mr Williams’ black Mazda parked near by. The heat got so hot and it was only by luck that we realised that the paint on the side of the vehicles facing directly to the flames had started to bubble. You should have seen the commotion to get the forklift and car moved. All Grenville Gill could say was “It too hot, it too hot. Oh Lord! De car, de car!” Well the cars were saved and the next morning the anchor had no rust. The captain came and asked, “How did you get it done?” He never found out, but to this day I know how to de-rust a rusted up anchor, how to clean up a property, and how not to park cars near a big bonfire. The years have seen great accomplishments for the company, but the ones I am most proud of are the fabrication of the Cubic Space Frame Roof at The Central Bank of Barbados, and the completion and delivery of the Kensington Oval stands that Structural Systems Ltd. fabricated. It was some of the most technical work that I have done, along with
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