02 February 2012.pub - Pierce Distribution

February 2012
Pierce Distribution Services Company
Kevin Hogan Writes...
I hope everyone is staying
warm this winter. Other than
Alaska where they are having record snow falls and
cold weather, the rest of the
country seems to be having
a mild winter. In Washington,
we are having the normal
winter rain and occasionally
a sunny day.
I had a chance to meet with
Jeff Knapp (Industrial Craters and Packers) to do
some strategic planning for
2012. It was nice to see Jeff
again. It seems that every
time we meet we feed off
each other’s excitement for
the future.
Steve Ganss has finished his
sales training and is finalizing his plan to start calling on
companies in Michigan, Ohio
and Pennsylvania. He will
eventually branch out to
other states in the North-
east. Kristine Hoover
(Corporate HR Manager) is
visiting the plants including
trips to our Columbia, South
Carolina and Ripley, Tennessee plants. Dino
McNabb (COO) has also
visited Ripley with John
Mullin (Vice President) and
has gone to Columbia with
Andy Oltremari (Southeast
Business Manager). I know
that Tim Charles (Midwest
Business Mgr.), Tony Chiodini (CFO), Dino McNabb
and John Mullin went to
Peoria, Illinois to review a
new project. This project
has the potential to be very
big and would really help
our Rockford Plant.
Speaking of the new Rockford plant, we will be having
an ‘open house’ on Thursday, April 5th. Invitations
will be sent to this facility’s
customers, suppliers and local dignitaries. Larry Hickey
(Rockford GM), Beth Futrell,
Tim Charles and Chris Cacciatore are planning the
event.
I would like to congratulate all
who had Service Anniversaries in February. I would like
to highlight Pamela Bond at
our Ripley, Tennessee operation who celebrated her 5
Year Anniversary on February
19th. Congratulations and
thank you for your service
and dedication to Pierce. I
would also like to send out
birthday wishes to all Pierce
associates who celebrated
their birthdays in February.
Kevin Hogan
Our C.O.O. Writes...
We recently
relocated
one of
our Belvidere
facilities
to 3686
S. Central Avenue in Rockford, Illinois, which was the city in
which Pierce originated. This
was due to lease obligations
and the necessity to stabilize
our building costs for our
customer base. The recent
expansion of the Chrysler
facility in Belvidere has
driven the cost of commercial real estate beyond what
we could absorb or pass
along to our customers.
It is a difficult task moving a
90,000 square foot facility,
particularly when you have
multiple clients involved. We
planned this event carefully
over a five to six week period
to ensure the service levels
for all our customers remained intact. This was accomplished with the support
of key personnel at the
Pierce corporate and plant
levels.
The building lease had to be
secured prior to any formal
announcement to the necessary parties involved in
transportation, contractors,
and ultimately the customer
base. Shutting off receipts in
one location and transferring
(Continued on page 2)
Jack’s Words
Of Wisdom
“We cannot
direct the
wind, but we
can adjust
the sails.”
Page 2
Pierce
Our C.O.O. Continues...
(Continued from page 1)
product to the other was performed flawlessly by all involved.
The customers involved were
all notified prior to any movement and the announcements
were sent to the carriers and
freight companies needed.
We were running some accounts out of the new facility
while some were still functioning in Belvidere. This was
done with the support and
dedication of Larry Hickey
(the General Manager) and
his staff, in particular, Ken
Holze and Beth Futrell.
Once the actual parts movement began, we were up and
running completely in our new
location in 30 days. John
Sales & Marketing Writes...
Mullin (Vice President) assisted with the planning sessions along with Larry and
several others involved. Jason Smith handled all the IT
and communication functions and Tony Chiodini
(CFO) provided the financial
resources necessary to
move an operation of this
magnitude. I am happy to
say that we have had visitors
from Carraro come to see
the new location, and they
are very pleased with the
end result.
Thank you to everyone involved for making this a very
smooth transition.
Dino McNabb
MARCH BIRTHDAYS
Name
MEETINGS
101: WAS
THAT A
GOOD
MEETING,
OR A BAD
ONE?
Take any
large organization and you're
likely to see employees who
spend the majority of their time
going from one meeting to another. At a fair share of these
meetings, attendees arrive
unprepared and the conversation meanders along for hours
in a meeting that could have
only taken 15 or 30 minutes, if
it needed to occur at all.
What distinguishes an effective
meeting from one that is a
complete waste of time? Here
are five factors that help ensure a good meeting:
(1) Having a good reason to
meet in the first place;
(2) Having an agenda that
clearly states the purpose of
the meeting and key steps to
satisfying that purpose by the
end of the meeting;
(3) Stating a timeframe at the
beginning of the meeting and
sticking to it, with few exceptions;
Date
Plant
Tracey Strawn
02
7
Kristine Hoover
02
C
Raciel Castro
03
3
Anthony Lineberry
05
7
Jerry Wilkes
08
7
Tracy Schmitt
09
7
Don Ingram
09
7
Name
Date
Frankie Williams
12
2
Kyle White
18
2
Mark Turner
19
8
Skye Isom
21
7
Alberto Alcantara
24
3
Jerry Hankins
24
7
Todd Rice
25
7
Thomas Charles
26
C
David Frye
13
2
Marianne Lewin
Jackie Freeman
Alicia Cabriales
Eric Zigler
Fernando Patino
Alejandra Sanchez
Danny Guzman
Gregory Taylor
James Story
Danny Lewis
Jason Kyle
Brian Cutts
3/01/96
3/11/99
3/29/00
3/07/01
3/31/10
3/22/10
3/14/11
3/28/11
3/28/11
3/28/11
3/28/11
3/28/11
MARCH ANNIVERSARIES
Plant
C
7
3
8
3
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
(4) Requiring that participants come prepared to
discuss the topics on the
agenda, meaning that
participants have received the agenda and
have been told what's
expected from them personally;
(5) Having some degree
of skilled facilitation -someone who can keep
participants focused on
the agenda items and can
navigate prickly interpersonal issues so that the
meeting is effective instead of dysfunctional.
Business meetings occur
to define and move a
business strategy forward, to ensure that the
group is on the same
page, to share vital information needed to keep
various activities moving
along in a way that is
aligned with the biggerpicture strategy or goals.
Good meetings are rare,
but you know when you're
attending one. The
schedule and purpose are
clear, participants are
prepared, conversation is
dynamic, and the meeting
ends promptly, with next
steps defined and confirmed among all participants. The meeting may
be pleasant, and even
fun, and there may exist
an enjoyable camaraderie
amongst participants. But
the meeting is clearly
about moving forward the
work of the day and is
energized by the preparation and clear-focus of its
participants.
Tim Charles
Pierce Distribution Services Company
Page 3
Rockford Writes...
In January Plant 2
moved from Belvidere
to Rockford.
Plant 2 has been in
Belvidere since 1998
so you can imagine
we amassed a lot of
“stuff” over the years
in 90,000 sq. ft. The
new facility located at 3686 S. Central
Avenue is the same size building but
door locations, and an office area half
the size of Belvidere required a different layout.
On December 26th we began setting up
racking in preparation of moving product and on January 3rd we began moving product. This was a huge undertaking and it took all of us working together to make it happen without disrupting customer service. John
McNabb was a big help supervising the
crew putting up racking and directing
traffic at Rockford while Ken Holze was
heading up getting product shipped
and then tearing down racking in
Belvidere. Once Komatsu and Hamilton Sundstrand product was moved,
Ken was back and forth between
plants everyday making sure everything was getting done properly.
IT did a great job getting our computer
network and phones set up quickly so
we could plug and play as each account moved.
Beth Futrell organized the office move.
She laid out the office which is half the
size of the Belvidere office and determined what stayed and what went into
storage. Beth also had to ensure all the
customers were still being serviced.
Ken and Beth did an excellent job during the entire process and it went
smoothly because of their leadership
and teamwork.
We worked from January 3rd thru January 20th without a day off and working
long hours every day. Every associate
worked constantly without complaint
which added to the success; but when
I announced that we would not be
working the 21st there were quite a few
smiles among them.
We spent the last week of the month
cleaning up the Belvidere facility and
turned in the keys on the 31st.
Moving plants is not new to Pierce
but this was my first time. John Mullin
and Dino McNabb were instrumental
in guiding me thru this process. I jotted down some thoughts to assist the
next manager that has to move a
plant that might help.
- Make a plan and review it with your
supervisors. You will not think of everything yourself.
- Inform all the associates of the
plan; keeping everyone informed
keeps worry and negativity to a minimum.
- Be flexible. My plan changed every
day. Don’t fret it; make the change
and keep pushing forward.
- Re-evaluate the progress with your
team every day, several times a day
but don’t micromanage! Your team
will need to make decisions during
the day. If they have to wait for you,
you will fall behind schedule. They
work the floor everyday and have
good ideas; harness their experience.
If you don’t agree with something you
can fix it and move on.
- Vendors will disrupt your schedule
more than anything. Hold them to
dates and push push push them.
- Label everything before it moves
especially the office files and computers. You will need to get your
hands on these quickly.
- Take lots of photos; this is one
thing I didn’t do and missed an opportunity to document daily progress
which is a shame.
- Keep a positive attitude; it will flow
thru your team.
Dino told me that once you move a
plant you will feel like you can do
anything. And I have to admit that I
am proud of how well the move went
and very proud of all the associates
that I have working for me that truly
made it happen.
Larry Hickey
On January 7th , Beth Futrell celebrated her 10 year anniversary with
Pierce.
Beth started her Pierce career in the
Plant 2 office working for Carol Monti.
Beth has worked on almost every account that has been at Plant 2 including Nissan, Navistar, Agco, Kubota,
ATI, and the list goes on and on. Beth
has great customer service skills and
succeeded on every task given to her.
Carol recognized this very quickly and
began training her as her back-up
learning all the Human Resource functions.
Upon Carol’s retirement last year, I
promoted Beth to HR Supervisor which
includes supervising the Plant 2 customer service group and the Carraro
account. She has done an excellent
job in her new position. Carol trained
her very well as she keeps me on my
toes in keeping with company policy.
We celebrated Beth’s anniversary in
combination with our Christmas luncheon as we would be in the middle of
our move on the 7th. Beth received a
Nook Color as a gift.
Please join me in congratulating Beth
on her accomplishment.
Page 4
Pierce Distribution Services Company
Belvidere West Continues...
We are getting
settled in our
new building
and things are
coming together. I would
like to thank
everyone for
their hard work,
long hours and
incredible effort
they put in for
the facility
move. We could
not have done it
without all of your help!
We celebrated Leticia Medrano’s five year
anniversary on January 27, 2012. She is
the Lead in the Procurement Department.
Congratulations Leti! You are a valuable
part of our Team and we appreciate your
hard work and dedication.
I would also like to send my deepest sympathies to our Woodshop Lead, Raul Sanchez, who has recently lost his mother.
Beth Futrell
Leticia Medrano of the Procurement Department is congratulated by General
Manager, Larry Hickey, for her Five Year Anniversary Celebration on January 27, 2012.
Better Late than Never... Christmas in January ...
Due to our facility move planning that was occupying our December, Belvidere West celebrated
our Christmas luncheon in January with good food and good fun and good friends!!
Page 5
Pierce Distribution Services Company
Bolingbrook Writes...
Twenty years is a
long time to be
anywhere and
Adan Flores has
accomplished this
here at Pierce in
Bolingbrook. We
celebrated this
occasion with
Adan and I would like to thank him,
once again, on behalf of Pierce for his
dedication towards his job. Adan
works in the receiving department as
a material handler driving a forklift
At Plant 3 we celebrated Valentines
Day by having a
give-away of prizes!
Matt Jurasek selected 38 names at
random out of 175
employees. Each of
those selected employees had a turn choosing a Prize!
We had collected various items
throughout the year from events and
had saved them for an “associate appreciation occasion”. This year, we
chose Valentines Day for this event.
Our collection consisted of a variety of
gifts from sports t-shirts and sweat
shirts to coolers and bags.
truck. For his hard work and
dedication, Adan received a
certificate and gift card from our
General Manger Matt Jurasek,
in appreciation for his 20 years
of service to Pierce.
Congratulations Adan and we
are looking forward to working
with your for the next 20 years
also.
Jerry Zavala
Adan Flores [C] is congratulated by GM
Matt Jurasek [L] and Corp. HR Mgr.,
Kristine Hoover [R] for 20 years of service..
A Few Bolingbrook Associates
with their Selected prizes.
Mark
From
Heavy
Pack
Rudy
From
UPS
Dept.
Andrea Scott
Jose
From
UPS
Dept.
Joe
From
Heavy
Pack
Laura
From
Doosan
Dept.
Page 6
Pierce Distribution Services Company
Columbia Writes ...
Well it is the end
of January and it
feels like the
middle of spring.
We have had an
unusually warm
winter even for
the Carolinas.
This is the slow
season for our
customer Metso,
but we are not
seeing the normal slow down
we have in years past. The outlook is
for the volume to continue and the
start to the season looks to be coming
early this year. This is good news for
both Metso and Pierce. With the slowdown that we are seeing we have
been using the time to work on some
different projects. 5S is a continuing
process and our next area to attack
was our outside storage locations. We
handle some large and heavy pieces
for Metso. Our locations need to be
cleared and cleaned of old material
and weeds. Then the parts were
placed back in location with a better
use of location spacing. This process is
now easy or quick due to the size of
the parts and the amount that needs to
be moved. We will be working on this
process for the next several weekends
to not disrupt daily production. I have
added a couple of pictures from our
first weekend’s work.
Gabe White
BEFORE
AFTER
Page 7
Pierce Distribution Services Company
ICP, Portland OR Writes ...
Industrial Craters & Packers
is busy building
crates for Nikon
tools owned by
Intel. It’s a bit
more involved
than that might
seem…
When broken down for shipment,
each tool requires 38 crates totaling
9,315 square feet. Crafting those
crates takes the full production of our
main shop for four days.
All of the crates are foam lined. Eight
components will be purged of air and
filled with nitrogen gas to protect delicate electronic components. The nitrogen must be purged and replaced
at least every 14 days while the tool is
in storage or transit. Formerly this
would necessitate: uncrating components; moving them into a clean room
environment; opening the bag and
replacing the gas. This problem was
solved by an innovation initiated by
Randy Cantonwine
2
1
Photos 1, 2, and 3 are of the Nikon tools being
processed on our main shop floor.
3
ICP personnel Jon Munchus and Jeff
Knapp. ICP fabricates a port in the side
of the crate allowing the connection of
a portable nitrogen pump which constantly circulates fresh gas through the
system during storage.
ICP will be building crates for six of
these tools in Q1 of 2012.
Photo 4-fabricated port in side
of crate for nitrogen pump.
4
Page 8
Pierce Distribution Services Company
Ripley Writes...
LOOK!!
It’s Ugly
It all
started in
June
2010
when
John
King, Jr.
was hired
by Staff
on Site to work at Pierce Distribution
on 2nd Shift. He worked with Jackie
Freeman who trained him on Cross
Dock Shipping. With an eye for detail
and several years experience in quality control, John has worked in nearly
every department (pack table, heavy
pack, shipping, woodshop, dealer return, PO line, breakdown and special
exports). In February 2011, John became a full-time Pierce associate. He
is happy to be 1st shift woodshop QC
worker. Woodshop includes a great
group of associates who pride themselves with having very few error slips
and that could be because John
works so closely with each of them.
Line lead, Janice Taylor, marvels at
John's ability in catching and preventing mistakes. He is always willing to
do whatever is needed - from allocating in service parts to conducting bin
checks at Komatsu, as well as serving
as a first responder on the safety
team. And now - the rest of the story.
Everyone affectionately refers to John
as "Ugly". In fact, very few knew his
real name. As the story goes John
grew up playing pool, lots of pool. He
became very good at the sport and
won several large tournaments. His
expertise allowed him to train and
coach others in the game of pool. History has it that back in the early 80"s,
Ugly coached a group of six ladies to
the City-wide championship defeating
several all-male teams in the process.
As the coach, he would take criticism
when he himself missed a shot and
the team would respond - that's ugly.
Thus, the name "Ugly" was estab-
lished as John's new nickname. Previous work badges never used the
name John, only the name "Ugly".
He has T-shirts and jackets with the
name "Ugly" that he proudly wears.
Ugly is a man of many talents. Music has always been important in his
life. He has been on stage with
some of America's greatest entertainers: Loretta Lynn, Vern Gosden,
Gene Watson and Lee Greenwood
to name a few. He loves Karaoke
and sings a potpourri of music that
scan from the 60's to the 90's that
include early rock, Bon Jovi, Stevie
Wonder, Wilson Pickett, Meatloaf
and Foreigner. Participating in benefits, you'll always find him singing
and playing his guitar - if I can pick
it, I want to sing it. As you see in the
picture, Ugly is sitting on his Honda
VTX 1800 Candy Apple Red
Dresser which he rides to work
every day from his home in Brownsville, TN. And yes, there is a serious
side to Ugly. Wherever and whenever there is a need, count on Ugly
to be there. He has logged over
35,000 miles on his bike as road captain for several motorcycle riding
clubs helping to raise money for those
in need. He states his riding colors
are pink and fuchsia to represent
most of his riding events, which are
usually to raise funds (approximately
over $750,000 over the last few
years) for cancer patients, other serious illnesses and funeral expenses
here in the West Tennessee area.
Ugly is the father of six children and
grandfather to nine. In his spare time
(what spare time?), he enjoys spending time at his cabin on the Tennessee River and doing a little fishing.
Ugly states "it is an honor and privilege to be nominated and chosen as
Associate of the Month with special
thanks to those who selected me."
Words well spoken from the most
beautiful Ugly I've ever seen! Join me
in congratulating John King as our
Associate of the Month.
Mike Moore
Associate of the Month
Ripley’s
Associate of
The Month,
John King, Jr.
(a.k.a. Ugly)
Is pictured
with QC Line
Lead, Janice
Taylor.
Page 9
Pierce Distribution Services Company
Belvidere East Writes...
Hello again, from
Plant 8 in Beautiful
Belvidere. I hope
this newsletter finds
you all happy and
healthy. Here in
Northern Illinois, we
have been experiencing some unseasonably mild weather, so far. According to the Belvidere Groundhog we
are in for an early spring, and I, for
one, am not upset about that at all. I
realize that we still have two or three
more months of potential for bad
weather, and I remember a Memorial
Day weekend a while back, that had
snow. So, we will see.
Birthday celebrations for the month of
February include Mike Powell, Sam
Martinez, Gregg Lee, Cyndie Wonzer,
John Bednar and Brandon Spitson.
Best wishes for Happy Birthdays to
you all.
I would like to congratulate Cyndie
Wonzer for being our Associate of the
Month. Cyndie is our Receiving Specialist here in the office; and she has
been with us for over 11 years. We
can always count on her to be here
and to do a fabulous job. Cyndie
scans and indexes our pick lists that
have been shipped out, which allows
us to shred the originals and be able
to electronically view the orders at a
later date if needed. She prints all the
Receiving Arrival Reports from the
packing lists, and enters them into
locations after the parts are put away.
She works with our customer, The
Manitou Group, buyer planners to
resolve issues and discrepancies, and
accommodates auditors when neces-
FEBRUARY BIRTHDAYS
L-R Brandon Spitson, Sam Martinez, John Bednar, Cyndie Wonzer, Mike Powell, Greg Lee
Hello from the
Inventory Department here in
Belvidere East.
Wow I can’t believe we are already in the third
month of 2012.
Time is just flying
sary, as well. With all this that Cyndie
is responsible for, she is still always
looking for ways to help out, whether it
is entering returns or pre-packing in
Receiving. She just can’t sit still! I know
how much she does, because I am
expected to try and fill her shoes when
she is off. And, as everyone here can
tell you, nobody does it like you, Cyndie. Keep up the great work!
Lastly, I would like to welcome some
newcomers to Pierce Plant 8. Bo Javin
Griffith is new to our Woodshop, Sam
Martinez is in our Receiving Department, and Shipping has Nick Grenlund
and Joe Schoepski. Welcome aboard,
all.
Here is hoping that you all have a safe
and fabulous month, no matter what
the weather.
Carol Hebel
Associate of the Month
Cyndie Wonzer [L] is congratulated by Office
Mgr. Jenny Ralston [R]
by too fast. I would like to congratulate the Associate of the
Month, Mrs. Cynthia Wonzer!!!
Cyndie is a big part of the receiving
department and is a joy to work
with. I am sure everyone here at
our facility joins me in congratulating Cyndie for her selection of February’s Associate of the Month and
cheers you on with a big “keep up the
GREAT WORK CYNDIE!!!” Let it be
known that we all appreciate you and
enjoy working with you daily.
Brittany Thompson
Page 10
Pierce Distribution Services Company
Belvidere East Continues...
Hello again. I hope
everyone is doing
well. On Jan 26th we
celebrated our overall
error rate which
was .08% with a
pizza party. Way to
go team! I would like
to welcome all the new faces, Gregg
Lee, Bo Griffith , Sam Martinez, Nick
Grenlund , and Joe Schoepski. We
expect great things out of you! Wel-
Our CFO Writes...
Wellness &
Prevention
Newsletter
February 2012
Each month Williams Manny provides The Wellness & Prevention Newsletter to you as a service
for distribution to your employees. The newsletter includes information on health, wellness, nutrition
and disease.
This month's topics including:
How do you say, ‘I love you’?
- OUTER AISLE FRESH – HeartHealthy Recipe Tricks without Sacrificing Taste
- EATING WELL RECIPE - Oat Bran
Blueberry Muffins
- GET MOVING – Hot Dance Steps
for Romance or Fun
- FISCAL FITNESS – Tax Preparation: DIY or Hire a Professional?
- THE WHOLE YOU – Physical
Health: Taking the Chill Out of Frostbite
- THE WHOLE YOU – Emotional
Health: Inner Hunger
- HEAD ONLINE FOR MORE RESOURCES: feb.hopehealth.com
- FEBRUARY HEALTH OBSERVANCES – NATIONAL WISE
HEALTH CONSUMER MONTH
- YOUR HEALTH MATTERS – February’s Weekly Goals Add Up
come to the Pierce Team.
I would like to congratulate February’s
Associate of the Month Cyndie Wonzer!!! Cyndie works in the office printing all the arrival reports for receiving,
as well as doing various other tasks.
We appreciate all the help that you
give Cyndie! Thanks for doing an outstanding JOB!!
Brandon Spitson
Enter www.williams-manny.com/
Wellnewsletter.html
to download this issue.
Employee Resource Center Key Features . . .
− The Health Resources section
features informational links on fitness and nutrition, senior health,
kids’ health, prescription drugs,
emergency resources, health calculators, mental health, disease
risk assessments, and health information from the world’s largest
medical library, the National Library of Medicine.
− The Financial Resources section presents articles about budgeting and saving, college planning,
kids and money, taxes, credit and
debt, retirement planning, insurance, investing, leasing vs. buying
a car, purchasing a home and getting a mortgage, and making a
will.
− The Other Resources section
offers tips about local volunteer
opportunities, charitable giving,
motor vehicle safety, vital records,
and weather warnings.
− The Employee Resource Center is designed for all age groups,
and content is appropriate for children and adults. To log into the Employee Resource
Center, Enter
www.midwestlifeandhealth.com/erc
And choose the benefits passport option.
Username: wellness Password: erc
Tony Chiodini
I.T. Corner ...
9 Things you didn’t know
about computers
Trivia is always fun, and discovering new
things about computers (just when you
thought you knew it all, right?) is no exception. This list was compiled by San
Diego PC Help. (Courtesy of http://
www.sandiegopchelp.com/blog/15-funfacts-computer-trivia)
Hope you enjoy them.
1. It took the radio 38 years and the television only 13, but the internet reached 50
million users in only 4 years.
2. The computer mouse was invented by
Doug Engelbart in 1963. It was made out
of wood (weird, huh).
3. In 2009 the average number of Internet
transactions per second was 2,000. The
total number of goods sold was worth $60
billion.
4. Early hard disks in personal computers
held only 20 MB of data and cost around
$800. In 2010 you could get a 2 GB flash
drive for around $8. This implies that there
is a 100-fold reduction in the price and a
100-fold increase in storage capacity.
5. Rear Admiral Grace Hopper, the first
female admiral in the US Navy is also
known in the computer world for creating
the popular programming language COBOL. She also came up with the term
‘debugging’ after removing a moth from a
computer.
6. The computing power in today’s cell
phones is much higher than the processing power of all the computers in the
Apollo 11 Lunar Lander that put 2 men on
the moon.
7. The two main components in IT
(Information Technology) are hardware
and software. But there is also a lesser
known ‘grey’ component. This is the software that is stored in hardware and cannot be modified easily. It is known as
‘firmware’.
8. There are over 20 billion web pages on
the internet, and that number is rapidly
growing every day. Also, there are over 2
billion internet users worldwide at present.
9. RIM (the BlackBerry operating system
company) co-CEO and cofounder Mike
Lazaridis dropped out of college to start
his own company. He did so after reading
Microsoft’s founder, Bill Gates’ book.