The Saminco Link

“To Create Delighted Customers by Providing Exceptional Products and Service”
The Saminco Link
Keeping Us Connected
Volume 1, Issue 1
March 2007
Through the Years
The time has come…
•
Saminco Inc. was founded by
Bonne Posma on June 1, 1992
•
Saminco started with a staff of 3,
in a small 2,000 sq ft office space
near the Fort Myers, FL airport
•
Sales in 1992 were less than $1
million
•
In 1995 Saminco grew to over 30
employees and moved to the
present location, a 15,000 sq ft
Manufacturing Facility in South
Fort Myers, FL
•
Sales in 1995 were $1 million
•
In 2000 the Sales and Service
Facility in Lavalette, West Virginia
was opened
•
Sales in 2000 were $5 million
•
By 2005 Saminco Inc. had over 70
employees with sales and service
presences expanded to include
Norris City, IL,, Canada, KY,
Washington, PA, and Cedaredge,
CO. The Logan, WV Facility was
opened as the Saminco SWAP
Team Headquarters
•
Sales in 2005 were $11 million
•
In 2006 Saminco Inc. grew to over
80 employees with sales of $16
million
•
The Grand Opening of the
Saminco Midwest Sales and
Service Facility located in Norris
City, IL was in January of 2007
•
Presently Saminco Inc. employs
over 85 people.
By Bonne Posma
members initially to a
team of over 85; with
offices in Florida, West
Virginia, Kentucky,
Illinois, Pennsylvania,
and Colorado.
Bonne W. Posma
Saminco Founder and CEO
As some of you may
already know, Saminco
Inc. will be observing its
15th anniversary in
June 2007.
Since our beginning;
we have grown from 3
Bridging the
Gaps
Inside this issue:
By Mindy Dalabes
The Fort Myers, FL Facility
2
Sales and Marketing
5
Full Service in Lavalette, WV
6
SWAP in Logan, WV
7
Saminco Goes Midwest
8
Happy 15th Anniversary
9
Upcoming Events
10
The concept of this
newsletter came from the
need to keep all members
of the Saminco Team
connected. We all work
together in some capacity
everyday. However, many
of us do not know what it
We may soon be opening
an office in South Africa.
It is important that all of
us know what goes on in
the other regions where
we are active. With the
continuing growth of
Saminco, it is difficult to
rely on word-of-mouth
communications, which
work in a smaller
company.
It is time therefore
that we have our own
newsletter, and this is our
first edition. It will be a
is that our co-workers
really do or even where
they do it for that matter.
As the many divisions of
Saminco continue to
evolve in order to meet the
ever-changing needs of the
company; staying in touch
with one another as well
as the direction of the
company, has become
increasingly difficult.
forum for communication
between all of our Saminco
members and future issues
will include information
about new products, new
customers, social events
and what ever else may be
of interest.
Mindy Dalabes has
graciously volunteered to
be our first editor and I
hope that all of you will
help her with anything
that you feel others in our
company might want to
hear about. I trust that
this periodical will be
eagerly read and I look
forward to all of your
contributions.
Bonne Posma
This newsletter will be
a formal, yet hopefully
entertaining way to keep
the lines of communication
open between all of the
Saminco Family Tree
Branches.
I look forward to working
with everyone to develop
“The Saminco Link”. May
it bring us closer together
as we grow farther.
PAGE 2
T HE S A MI NC O LI NK
V OLU ME 1 , ISSUE 1
Jerzy
Smiecinski
Where to Begin?
If you could Mapquest
directions for getting to
the plans of “Saminco’s
Traction Equipment”; you
would have to START
Dr. Tony with the Engineering and
Davis
Design Team, and END
with a VFD System.
The directions would
be long and complicated.
There would be many
bends and turns along the
way, but the DRIVE
would be worth it.
Aleksandr
Krasnov
Mike
Stach
Dr. Tony Davis is our Vice
President of Engineering,
heading up a highly talented
and innovative team of engineers.
Among our Electrical Designers
we have Aleksandr Krasnov, Alex
Shipillo and Dr. Tony himself.
The Software/Firmware Design
Department headed by Mike
Stach, includes Sandra Moore and
John Hendricks.
In PCB Design we have Les
Banker and Tony Guerra.
Sandy
Moore
John
Hendricks
Lutz
Jacob
Jeff Kader is our Chief
Mechanical Designer, who is
supported by Draftsmen Jim
Bryn and Greg Zaiser.
New to the Engineering
Team, with pleasure, we welcome
Lutz Jacob and Jerzy Smiecinski.
Lutz is presently working on the
implementation of an Automated
PCB Testing Program for
Saminco. Jerzy is heading up
our Highwall Drive Project for
Superior Highwall Miners.
Les
Banker
Alex
Shipillo
Saminco’s BOM
Squad
Saminco’s Production and R&D
Department in Florida is comprised
of 13 skilled Wire Technicians led by
Production Manager Derek (Na)
Siriphanthong. They are responsible
for writing the procedures for and
building, among many other items;
new drives, master control boxes,
digital displays, pump starters,
Greg
Zaiser
Jim
Bryn
Tony
Guerra
Jeff
Kader
braking modules and foot
switches.
Coordinating with the Florida
Engineering Departments, the
Production Department makes
changes that would improve the
fit and function of Saminco
products. They always try to find
ways to build the drives faster
and maintain quality work.
Keeping the Bill of Materials
(BOM) updated in DBA with
parts added and deleted is also
one of the responsibilities of the
Production Department.
Back L to R: Boun Siriphanthong, Larry Miller,
Ryan Appadoo, Dave O’Dell, Vilay Veopaseuth,
Joel Montanez, Praimchand Churaman and
Na Siriphanthong
Front L to R: Pong Inthasane, Phou Siriphathong,
Tom Geffert, Jimmy Jiles and Noy Inthasane
The PCB Board Game
Checkmate is inevitable with
Joy Vongpathoum and Anita
Just like with Siriphanthong assembling the
L to R: Anita Siriphanthong,
any intense
boards, led by PCB In-House
Rita Fioravanti and
game
of
Chess,
Assembly & Inspection Manager
Joy Vongpathoum
the Florida PCB Rita Fioravanti.
Department (Printed Circuit Board)
The PCB Department conducts
spends countless, tedious hours laboring
all
of the PCB component and
over the board.
bare board inspections, audits PCB
kits to be built out of house, supports
the soldering for other Departments
and the Engineers, maintains ECN
(Engineering Change Notice) updates
to PCB’s and RMA repairs, as well as
the assembly of all In-House PCB’s.
V OLU ME 1 , ISSUE 1
T HE S A MI NC O LI NK
PAGE 3
Making the grade in the Test Department
The Test/RMA Department in Florida
has a wide range of responsibilities, that
include; proving the
operation of all the
finished products and
PCB assemblies, the
trouble shooting and
the repair of most
manufacturing errors,
and RMA estimating
and repair.
product on the fly whenever there is an
improvement or a correction is issued,
while minimizing any
interruptions to the
work flow.
The Test Department,
while small but very
efficient, is operated by
five talented and very
experienced Test
Technicians; Nick
Troiano, Steve Harcar,
Don Robinson, Sergey
Sergeyev and the Test
Department Manager
Bryan Mills.
The Test Department
must maintain all
L to R: Nick Troiano, Steve Harcar, Don
testing equipment,
Robinson, Sergey Sergeyev and
fixtures, and benches
Bryan Mills
used while preserving
a safe work environment.
As Saminco’s Quality Assurance
In close cooperation with the Production
Manager / R&D Technical Coordinator,
and Engineering Departments the Test
Philippe Maillard proves that even a
Team helps implement changes to the
long title does not quite cover it all.
Philippe assures that the quality of
new products are built and are tested
according to the standard. He reviews
the product in the field and trains the
customers, to improve their quality of
use.
Philippe assists and coordinates
with the Engineering Department,
designs and manufactures the test
equipment for R&D as well as the
customers and he is also a Special
Project Expeditor.
Philippe Maillard
From shopping to shipping
They say that you have to spend
money to make money. Well, in the
Florida Purchasing Department Joe
Guadagna and Bob Foster do just
that. Joe is primarily responsible for
all of the purchasing required for
printed circuit assemblies.
Materials Manager Bob Foster is
largely responsible for purchasing
most of Saminco’s manufacturing and
production needs. Bob also manages
the day to day activities of the Florida
Stock room and Warehouse.
This combined area has a solid crew
consisting of Brad Schoolcraft, Sanjeev
Churaman, Quin Khan, Tu Phimmasone,
Dennis Appadoo and newest member
Carl Anderson. These men all work
well together, while performing many
individualized tasks. Some of their
duties include maintaining inventory
and the receiving of incoming parts, the
kitting process of all assemblies, filling
work orders, and meeting all of
Saminco’s shipping needs.
Top L to R: Brad Schoolcraft, Tu Phimmasone,
Sanjeev Churaman and Quin Khan
Front L to R: Dennis Appadoo, Carl Anderson,
Bob Foster and Joe Guadagna
The Saminco Connection
Michael Thompson
Like so many others at Saminco,
Mike Thompson has worked his
way through several Departments,
before finding his niche’. His career
with Saminco took off IN Production,
but landed as THE (IT) Information
Technology Department.
Mike Thompson is the sole Network
Administrator for all of the Saminco
locations. He is not just the DBA go
to man. It has been jokingly said, “If
it is plugged in, Mike supports it!”
For the most part this is true.
Among many other areas, Mike tends
to our; Servers, Internet Connection,
Email, Phone Systems, Most Office
Equipment, Security Aspects and
System Builds.
Mike truly keeps us connected
with information technology and
through emergencies.
PAGE 4
T HE S A MI NC O LI NK
V OLU ME 1 , ISSUE 1
Taking Care of Business From Florida
Vice President of Operations Tim Grimm, has his hands full in the Florida Office. Working with
Bonne and all of Saminco’s Departments, Tim is always thinking of new ways to improve
Saminco’s Operations. Staying in touch with each Department’s developments and
Let me think;
needs is not an easy task, but Tim is always up for the challenge.
Carol said, “Don’t
forget the milk,”
and what else?
The heart of every company is the Accounting Department. Accounting and
Administrative Manager, Mary Bates has her fingers on the pulse of all Saminco’s
main arteries. Without skipping a beat she performs all of the day-to-day
accounting functions including but certainly not limited to; managing payables,
receivable collections, company payroll and maintaining employee personnel
files.
Vice President of Operations
Tim Grimm
Saminco’s “Thinker”
An Assistant, by definition is - A person who contributes to the fulfillment of
a need or furtherance of an effort or purpose. Mindy Dalabes encompasses the
full sense of the word. Among her many tasks, she participates in evaluating
group insurance coverage options. Mindy serves as a liaison by assisting the
employees with benefit choices, guidance in resolving insurance claim matters,
status changes and billing issues. She also assists employees with their 401K
enrollment. When not working with insurance issues, Mindy assists with the
accounts payable by; evaluating daily receiving reports and vendor invoices,
then investigates and resolves any discrepancies. She also, compiles the
monthly commissions for the Sales Representatives, coordinates employee travel
arrangements and most recently produces Saminco’s company newsletter.
Production Coordinator, Donna Getch has an “Oscar” winning talent for the direction of Saminco’s
production in Florida. Her extensive knowledge of the Saminco product line; enables her to smoothly
schedule and coordinate the flow of work between the Material Purchasing, Test, Production and
Shipping Departments. To establish priorities for the completion of specific customer orders; Donna
analyzes the required parts and DBA inventory, while reviewing production schedules and work orders
by staying in constant communication with Department Supervisors.
In the Florida Office, our customers initial point of contact is Laura Staub. From their first phone call
to the product being shipped; she services many of our customer’s needs, in addition to providing price
quotes and invoices for new sales as well as repairs. Laura assists the
Production Department by opening work orders, issuing necessary
parts and closing work orders. She receives all of the incoming RMA’s
and processes all the related necessary paperwork. By coordinating
with the Production, Test and Shipping Departments; Laura advises
other Saminco Representatives and customers on delivery schedules.
Before waving goodbye to the delivery truck (and she has been known
to do that), Laura prepares all of the packing slips and the commercial
invoices for the required shipping documentation. Adding a break to
her routine, Laura also coordinates company travel arrangements as
needed.
Marcie Machak is the Florida Office’s “Girl Friday”. Some of her
responsibilities include; data entry, filing and assisting all of the
other Departments that may have a special need.
Back L to R: Laura Staub, Mary Bates and
Mindy Dalabes
Front L to R: Marcie Machak and
Donna Getch
V OLU ME 1 , ISSUE 1
T HE S A MI NC O LI NK
PAGE 5
Turning Coal Into Gold
Machak’s World
Why won’t this mouse work?
This story can fit 150-200 words.
One benefit of using your newsletter as a promotional tool is that
you can reuse content from other marketing materials, such as
press releases, market studies, and reports.
While your main goal of distributing a newsletter might be to sell
your product or service, the key to a successful newsletter is making it useful to your readers.
A great way to add useful content to your newsletter is to develop
and write your own articles, or include a calendar of upcoming
events or a special offer that promotes a new product.
My primary
responsibility
to promote
Saminco…
I’m the
You can also
research
articlesis or
find “filler”
articles
by accessing
corporate
evangelist!
I create
marketing
materials
used of
fortopics
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the World
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a variety
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purpose;
including
catalogs,
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and
the
web
page.
This
also
try to keep your articles short.
includes organizing and attending our industry related Mining and
Transportation
trade
I also
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Mining
Much of
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Sales
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non-mining
relatedPublisher
sales.
for your
Web
Microsoft
offers a simple way to convert your newsletter to a Web publication. So, when you’re finished
Beingnewsletter,
involved with Saminco
theresite
wasand
a Saminco,
writing your
convertsince
it tobefore
a Web
post it.(I
worked with Bonne at Saftronics), and having been fortunate to work
in design, manufacturing, test and administration has enabled me to
truly promote our fantastic company. Saminco has an outstanding
world wide reputation for service, quality and innovated products. I
am extremely excited about our future as we continue to grow and
develop new products.
Larry Machak
Most of Saminco’s Domestic Sales and
Service for the Coal Industry is based out of
the Lavalette, WV office. Vice President of
Sales, Rick Ferrell has put together a highly
experienced and professional team.
The Lavalette
based sales/service
staff covers a wide
territory, including
all states with the
exception of the
Mid-west area.
They meet with and
educate customers
on our ever growing
electrical product
range. They enjoy
the opportunity of
Vice President of Sales
working with the
Rick Ferrell
customer; to show
Wouldn’t you buy from this
how Saminco’s
guy?
proven products,
successful experiences and our experienced
technical staff can be put to use in their coal
or coal related company.
The Saminco Engineering Team has
provided the Sales and Service staff with
excellent products that generally increase
production and reduce mine delays.
Saminco’s U.S. Coal Industry Sales and
Service Territories
Greg McElhaney
Northern WV, PA, MD
and North Eastern OH
Lane Cerise
CO, WY, UT,
MT, NV, and
NM
Kenny Boles
South Eastern Ohio
and WV between Buchanan and Logan
*Rex Bramel
IL, IN, Western KY, OK
and AR
*Midwest Sales/
Service Territory
Gary Beard
Eastern KY, Southern
WV, and the coal fields
in Virginia
PAGE 6
T HE S A MI NC O LI NK
V OLU ME 1 , ISSUE 1
Little Shop of Sales and Service
Just take the picture,
I got calls to make!
As Saminco’s mining control equipment was rapidly expanding, the need to open a
Sales and Service Facility arose. In the year 2000, with sales over $5 million, the
Lavalette, WV office was opened.
Presently Saminco’s Vice President Jon Anderson is a very active
participant in most all of the daily operations conducted at the Lavalette
Office, or “The Shop” as it is commonly referred as. In addition to his
general office management responsibilities, Jon is heavily involved with
most sales and service transactions.
Along with Patrick Deweese,
Jon orchestrates the Lavalette, WV
Production Area. This area is
divided into three Departments to
include Stock, Repair and Test.
All of the departments maintain
Lavalette, WV Vice President
the goal of providing our customers
Jon Anderson
with highly reliable, economical
and safe traction equipment. Their first priority is to reflect Saminco in a
positive light by providing Traction Technology; whether it is by repair,
exchange or service on demand.
Saminco Stock Options
Bill Artis governs the
Lavalette, WV Stock
Department. He maintains
an inventory of new and
reconditioned units, as
well as a variety of parts to
support all of the repair
operations of the Lavalette
Facility.
Bill Artis
Bill is also responsible for
all of the shipping and the
receiving duties of the shop.
Charlie Moser
Charlie Moser is the
Lavalette shop’s Courier,
when contracted shipping is
not an option. Charlie’s route
includes; PA, VA, WV and
Eastern KY.
Patrick Deweese
Meet the Mr. Fix Its
The Lavalette Repair
Department consists of
five individuals with a
range of experience.
Mike Blankenship is the
Team Leader, and has
been with the Lavalette
office since near
its conception.
Jay Stiltner, Chris
Holley, George
Brumfield and
Robert Cetroli
complete the
team.
The Repair
Department’s
primary function
is to recondition
drives and repair
the internal
components that
are visually damaged. The
work is at times physically
and mentally challenging,
given the state of drives
returning from years of
service in a mining operation.
L to R: Chris Holley, Mike Blankenship, Chris
(George) Brumfield and
Jay Stiltner (Robert Cetroli not pictured)
V OLU ME 1 , ISSUE 1
T HE S A MI NC O LI NK
PAGE 7
Being Put to the Test in Lavalette
The senior members of the team are
Arthur (Pat) Patterson and Dennis
Lyons. With backgrounds in the
power and steel making industries,
these men bring both experience and
maturity to the group.
L to R: Brad Archer, Matt Adkins, Terrence Kelly, Dennis Lyons and
Pat Patterson
The Lavalette Test Department is
operated by five men with widely
different technical backgrounds. All
of them work together to ensure that
each unit is thoroughly inspected,
tested and returned to the customer
with the ability to provide many
more years of reliable service.
Diamonds with the Rough
With the Lavalette Sales and
Service Office growing to include
over 20 men, Patricia (Patty) Cazad
and Aubrey Berry may very well be
outnumbered, but not outmatched.
As the Lavalette Office Staff, these
ladies are on the front line, as well
as in the front office. In addition to
handling all of the typical clerical
duties associated with the office,
Patty and Aubrey are usually the
first contact when a customer calls.
Brad Archer adds experience with a
background in industrial controls
and covers the last phase of testing
as the load bench operator. Matt
Adkins and Terence Kelly are the
newest additions to the team as test
technicians, and are already making a
big impact.
Jeff Boris joined Saminco in 2005
with over 15 years of experience with
electrical controls in manufacturing
and engineering environments. His
They provide excellent customer
service by; helping with complaints
and the completion of
monthly reports for
the mines. They take
orders for new units,
repairs and service
exchanges.
Among their many
other tasks, the ladies
update the customer
information in DBA,
and prepare all the
necessary paperwork
for the Repair/Test
Providing “Service With A Purpose”
The SWAP Team is
led by Steve Viars and
L to R: Tim Swafford, Steve Viars,
Naamon Spry and Jerry Steele.
When not working on R/C’s, Jeff
assists in the field and with the Test
Department.
area. They also complete invoices for
repairs and service exchanges and
prepare the paperwork
for the Florida office to
invoice new orders.
Aubrey and Patty also
assist the salesmen in
the field, as well as the
recently opened Logan,
WV office with all of
their orders and their
shipping needs.
L to R: Aubrey Berry and
Patty Cazad
Out with the Old, In with the New
Centrally located in
the mining country;
our Logan, West
Virginia Facility was
opened in 2005 as the
Headquarters for the
Saminco SWAP Team.
previous work
with Radio Remote
Controls as an
Application Eng.
coupled with Drive
experience has
allowed him to
Jeff Boris
quickly learn the
Saminco product line.
Jeff has completed the field testing
on our R/C Locomotive and currently,
he is working on our R/C Miner
Application.
consists of Naamon
Spry, Tim Swafford
and most recently
Jerry Steele. The
team is responsible
for removing of old
systems and the
installation of new
Saminco Systems on
mining equipment;
located at the mine site, a rebuilder’s
shop or an OEM’s production floor.
The systems installed include; scoops,
shuttle cars, locomotives and mantrips.
The Logan Facility will be wiring
the Explosion Proof Housings that
some of our drives are mounted in,
and then install the Housings on the
machine, instead of just the Saminco
System. The team also performs some
field service work from the Logan
Facility.
PAGE 8
T HE S A MI NC O LI NK
V OLU ME 1 , ISSUE 1
A Note From Rex Bramel
Mindy,
The newsletter is an Excellent idea! The “meet and greet” thing is very welcome, and will as you said, bring us all closer
together within our Saminco family.
We are located in the Midwest area, in the Illinois Basin coalfield. Our Midwest Office that was just dedicated on January 20th,
is outside of the Southern Illinois town of Norris City. We are centrally located to all of our customers in the basin. The coalfield
covers most of Illinois, Indiana and Western Kentucky. It’s a large area and has us all plenty busy keeping up with the demand.
When things get “hopping”; we also are called upon to travel to Oklahoma, Arkansas and have assisted other locations with
service calls in Colorado, Alabama, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Western Virginia and Eastern Kentucky. Our primary responsibility is to
the Midwest though. We are here to provide sales and service to all of our customers, as well as training on our drives. We take
great pride in our ability to react to a customer’s call for help, and in our ability to get them up and running and back in production
very quickly. We also do SWAP installations at many of our customer locations, and it’s becoming increasingly popular to the
customers. By doing these; their machine is only out of production a short time, and it doesn’t have to leave their property to get
a complete electrical system upgrade. We just finished the 2nd of 3 A400 SWAP installations on Joy 10SC shuttle cars at Murray
Energy’s American Coal, Galatia Mine.
Just up the road 25mi., Alliance Group’s White County, Pattiki Mine is running the first 4 of our new “ground shaking” DC-AC
VFD systems in their Auxier Welding Built 10SC32 coal transporters. We have spent a lot of time on the VFD drive system as
well as our new Ground Fault Monitoring System; and are now in the very final stages of “debugging” and putting final touches on
software for these drives. (Thank you all at Saminco, Fla. Alex, Sandy, John Hen and everyone.) I must say; the VFD drives and our
Saminco AC traction motors are AWESOME!!! in production. Pattiki has had many inquiries from other mines and mining
companies, asking how are system runs. They have been gracious enough to invite the other people to come to the mine and
witness them in production. After their tour, they have all agreed with me: AWESOME!!! And we have had new orders placed
with us since!
At our Midwest location we have Cindy Rhodes, Midwest Business Manager/Coordinator : Ralph Roark Shop/Field Technician :
John Moore, who is on loan from the Lavalette, WV Office and is assisting our development : And myself: (whatever it is that I do).
Thanks,
Rex
Saminco Goes Midwest
The newest branch of the Saminco Family
Tree is the Midwest Facility, located in Norris
City IL. On January 20th, 2007 Rex and Cindy
hosted a gathering of Saminco friends and
family to celebrate the Open House.
A good time was had by all!
The “Cottage” serves as office space for Rex
and Cindy as well lodging for those traveling to
the area. There is also a full service Repair/
Test shop on the premises.
We wish them the best of luck and
continued success!
L to R: Rex Bramel, Cindy Rhodes and Ralph Roark
(Not pictured is John Moore from the Lavalette office)
V OLU ME 1 , ISSUE 1
T HE S A MI NC O LI NK
PAGE 9
Happy 15th Anniversary
Saminco!
Saminco Inc. was formed from the Mining
Traction controls division of Saftronics; a Fort
Myers based company, and began operation
on June 1st 2002.
Specializing in mining and transit
applications; Saminco’s Designing and
manufacturing of Solid State Electric
Traction / Propulsion Controllers and Systems
for Battery, Hybrid and Fuel Cell Vehicles for
15 years is a crystal clear cause for
celebration!
On May 19th 2007; the Fort Myers and
Lavalette Offices will be hosting simultaneous
Company Family Picnics in their respective
areas. Please plan to attend and celebrate
this incredible milestone.
(Details on the Picnics will be released soon)
PAGE 10
T HE S A MI NC O LI NK
V OLU ME 1 , ISSUE 1
FOR YOUR INFORMATION…
•
Happy Birthday to all the following March, April and May Babies; Brad Archer, Larry Miller, Bob Foster,
Chris Holley, Jim Bryn, Nick Troiano, Donna Getch, Aubrey Berry, Laura Staub, Lane Cerise, Dennis
Appadoo, Noy Inthasane, Steve Viars, Pat Deweese, Anita Siriphanthong, Mindy Dalabes, and Robert
Cetroli.
Happy Belated Birthday to those who celebrated in January and February; Greg Zaiser, Rita Fioravanti,
Jeff Boris, Patty Cazad, Larry Machak, Mike Blankeship, Steve Harcar, Marcie Machak and John Hendricks
•
Congratulations to Naamon & Christy Spry on the birth of their daughter Rachel on January 28th, 2007
•
Saminco hopes that everyone enjoys the time off to spend with your families on Friday April 6th.
Happy Easter! to all those who observe the Holiday
•
Saminco wishes Brad Schoolcraft and soon-to-be wife Melissa; the best of luck with their upcoming
Wedding on May 12th, 2007!
•
Mark you calendar for Saminco’s 15th Anniversary Celebrations on Saturday May 19th, 2007
This Memorial Day weekend while you are enjoying your day off on Monday May 28th;
please take a moment to think about all of the Brave American Soldiers
who have fought and died, as well as Austin Van Hise and those who continue to protect
OUR GREAT NATION!
For those of you that are not familiar with
Austin Van Hise; he is a Saminco employee who is
presently stationed in Germany, on active duty as
an officer in the US Military.
Austin flew reconnaissance (spy) missions in
Iraq, piloting the pictured aircraft. During one
of his recent phone calls to the Florida Office; he
referred to Iraq as The Desert, and commented
on what a desolate, undeveloped place it is —
Like the exact opposite of Southwest Florida.
All of those who work in the Florida Office,
hope that upon Austin’s safe return to the States,
he will resume his employment with
Saminco. Who knows, maybe he will
be our Company Pilot? We just need
to get the jet!
Army Pilot Austin Van Hise is pictured to the left
of his fellow Servicemen
V OLU ME 1 , ISSUE 1
T HE S A MI NC O LI NK
PAGE 11
I would first like to thank Tim and Bonne for giving me the opportunity to bring the idea of a
company newsletter to reality. The notion of meeting and greeting all of our Saminco Family
members, seemed like a fun way to kick off the first issue of The Saminco Link. “Easier said
then done.”, quickly had a new meaning to me.
Gathering the photos and job description summaries from all of the Department Heads was;
to coin a phrase from Larry Machak, “Like herding cats!”. Coordinating with everyone’s busy
schedules in order to create The Saminco Link, was no easy task. I thank all of my fellow
Samincoites for taking the time to work with me on this new venture; as well as my family for putting up with
me, or should I say without me while I was getting the Link ready for print.
I hope that in the limited space provided we have accomplished what we set out to achieve; which was to
bridge the gaps between all of us, and meet the challenge of showing how each of us is vital to the success of
our great company. In future issues we will have much more room to “Spotlight” each Department, giving
them the attention to details that they deserve. We also plan to focus on the direction of Saminco’s path,
important events, and our fine product line. Your suggestions and ideas for future features will be greatly
appreciated. Please feel free to contact me with your thoughts.
Before putting our first edition to bed, I have to pay a special Thank You to; Mike Thompson for all of his
technical support in preparing the Link, to Larry Machak for providing all of the Saminco stats and editing
suggestions and to Billy Artis for hunting and gathering most of the West Virginia photos. I could not have
pulled this off without you guys. Until June, take care.
Mindy Dalabes
Ps. Be sure to visit The Saminco Link on line at www.samincoinc.com
What’s Next?
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Saminco’s 15th Anniversary Celebration coverage
“Spotlight” on the Lavalette, WV Sales Representatives
Company Benefits Updates
Defining the VFD System
Machak’s World- Highlights from the South Africa trip and Upcoming Coal Show
news
Guess Who? (Please send me a copy of your baby picture, try not to share it with
others first)
A Note From Rex Bramel
Saminco bids a Farewell to Donna Getch
Your ideas please! Send me suggestions for what you would like to see next in
The Saminco Link