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Managing With EaZe
By: Tama Swan, Associate Editor
Issue: 2009mar
Once named the No. 1 lanyard supplier in the industry, Salt Lake City, Utah-based supplier SnugZ USA (UPIC: SNUGZUSA) is also known for stellar staff relations with its 200-some employees. In fact, last year four SnugZ employees acquired the company from its previous owner. One of these “fab four” employees was SnugZ President Brandon Mackay, MAS, who took a day last December to share what it’s like to really take ownership of one’s work.
6:45 am The night went by way too fast and the alarm is going off again. Let the games begin for another fun-filled day in the best state in the union—Utah.
7 am In the past 15 minutes, against my will I’ve managed to get my teeth brushed and shoes on, so now it’s a short car ride to the gym to get the juices going.
7:15 am Thirty minutes of cardio and, unfortunately, today happens to be a running day, which isn’t my favorite, but it must be done. After cardio it’s 30 minutes of circuit training, so the sweat is in full force but well worth it.
8:15 am Back home now and helping the kids get breakfast to feed their little minds. I have three in school and one who stays home with Mom, so mornings at our house are very hectic, but I wouldn’t trade them for the world. Oh yes, I’m a shake guy in the AM—it’s a must for me.
9 am Made it to the office (My commute is five minutes or less.) and fire up the laptop to get the morning e-mails queuing up so I can start knocking them out. Today I’m able to work through about 20 before my first appointment.
10 am Four of us meet in regard to a few equipment purchases we’re looking to make before year’s-end. We’re bringing in high-speed, full-color printing equipment to keep up with the demand on our Z Collection personal care products. We do millions of pieces of product in the new line, and it was a must to bring in the right equipment and talent to continue to the next level. We also purchased new image setting equipment that allows us to reduce the lead time even further and increase the imprint quality of our screen printed products. By a miracle we’ve been able to approve them both, which made everyone extremely happy. Wow, I can’t tell you how big of a deal it is.
11:30 am Today was the first time our rep force out there in the field has collectively worked together and bought our staff lunch. What an amazing feast they put on for us at Café Rio. Such a simple act created a great opportunity for our team to get together, laugh, socialize and eat some of the best Mexican food on the planet. Mostly we just took a break from the stress of 2008 and reminded ourselves how lucky we are to have such an outstanding team.
12 pm High noon now and the day is flying by. Today is our monthly manager meeting, with 15 key managers from corporate to manufacturing represented. This meeting makes SnugZ the leader by putting all key personnel in the same room, on a level playing field, and allowing us to evaluate our operation top to bottom.
It’s likely one of the most honest meetings of any company on the planet, and this is why I believe we continue to evolve on the positive side. Everyone comes ready to work and not to, like Charley Johnson says, “complain and blame.” In our meetings, we let you know up front that if you complain and blame you’re on your way to taking the walk of shame. We’re looking for solutions and ideas only.
In today’s meeting we address improving our mission statement and increasing performance of our customer service and order throughput. Much of the time goes to the new production management software we’re deploying.
2 pm Quick meeting with my office manager, Nichole Duhaine, to discuss our 2009 employee incentives and make sure we’re on the same page. This is one area at SnugZ that we take very seriously. Our SnugZ Hugely Awesome Reward Program (S.H.A.R.P.) lets employees quickly earn points and redeem them for SnugZ logoed merchandise such as hoodies, sports bottles, t-shirts, blankets, towels, etc. Believe it or not, we actually buy these items from vendors in the industry, and our employees love the SnugZ merchandise. They can also redeem the points for gift cards too.
3 pm The quick meeting turned into a long one. It was worth the time because now everyone is on the same page, and I really believe everyone will love the new program enhancements for 2009. Now it’s back to answer a few more e-mails and return a few more calls.
3:30 pm At our inventory update meeting we review one last time the products we’re releasing for 2009 to make sure the container dates match what we currently have on record and that we’re ready on the manufacturing and printing side to accommodate the new printing methods.
4:15 pm We’re diving into the numbers now at our year-end accounting review. We’re reviewing our P&L and income statement and also looking into the 2008 sales numbers. Contrary to the current environment, 2008 was very kind to SnugZ. We also take one last look at an overview of the budgets submitted by a few of our departments to compare them against our 2009 projections and make sure we’re aligned.
5:30 pm Seemed like a fast day, holy cow. I’m now in a zone and getting through a few of those interesting e-mails that I’ve been pondering most of the day. I get e-mails from employees seeking advice on personnel productivity and accountability, from other industry professionals, both suppliers and distributors, looking for a young mind to bounce ideas off of and from my staff looking for financial help if they find themselves in a bind. SnugZ USA has always and will always do whatever it takes to care for the staff that makes us who we are. It’s just not lip service at SnugZ.
6:30 pm Make it home just in time for dinner and to kick it with the family for a few hours.
10 pm Yes, SnugZ is still going for the day. I usually spend about an hour at night when I have time to think since the kids are in bed. I work on a few projects and mentally outline the next day.
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