How long have you worked at VEGA?
50 years, since 1968. It's hard to believe. I still enjoy it every day.
50 years, that's incredible. What has your career been like over that time?
I went to school at United Electronics in Louisville and then I went on to work at GE in Dayton for major appliances. After that I left to join the army. After 2 years of being stationed in Germany, I didn’t want to go back to what I was doing [with appliances] and my cousin worked here which is how I found [VEGA]. I started as an Electronic Technician who checked orbs and gauges. Then I was an Electronic Supervisor which meant I oversaw the electronic assembly line. I was in repair in between that and where I am now. I’ve been a Mechanical Assembler for a few years. I’ve seen it all.
I bet things have changed from when you started. What are some of the big changes you've seen?
There have been a lot of changes over 50 years. Back then, all we did was radiometric instruments and now we do the [additional] VEGA lines as well. The company has been sold twice over the years and VEGA has been hugely successful. We’re making more money than we ever did. With the profitability, profit share is a lot higher now. My first profit share was 11 cents. Back then I thought maybe they shouldn’t have even given it to me because it cost more to write the check.
Other things were there used to be less than 100 people working here when I started and now we're at over 240 employees. The upper floor and the back of the manufacturing building wasn’t there. Another change is now everything’s on the computer. We used to have paper schedules that we went over every week. We had the physical punch card for our clock ins and outs. It was very demanding but that was the way it had to be. We definitely did things differently.
50 years is a long time to stay at a company. What keeps you coming into work everyday?
The people. Here, I feel like I can talk to anyone. Not only the people but the job, I love it. Every day is a challenge. When I come up to the repair department I never know what I’m going to get. It’s something different each time which keeps it interesting. It keeps your mind sharp when you get to my age.
A little birdie told me you work part time. I didn't know that was something that's offered.
At the time, I didn’t either. It was a good time for the company, I had just switched positions and we hired new people. I thought, what have I got to lose? Now, I work part time, Tuesday and Thursday.
What do you do on your days off?
Wednesdays are occupied with my grandkids. Between my 3 kids, there are 8 grandchildren. They span in age from 5 months to 8 years old. My wife works for Xavier University and takes Wednesdays off so we can watch all of them. It keeps me busy and I enjoy it. Other days I work out, I do yard work in the summer, and in the winter I do inside jobs.
We have had a lot of new people start in the last year. What would you say to a new person just starting their career at VEGA?
I would tell them to learn as much as they can. Learn all the different jobs so you can move around and always enjoy it. You can learn something new every day.
What does your future look like?
I’m waiting until my wife retires to see what we'll do. But then once we retire? It’s up in the air. I’d like to travel.
I'm sure you have countless memories of this place. Does one stick out in your mind over the others?
One night I stayed overnight. We had a gauge for a customer that we had to get ready to ship and it had to go out. There had been engineering problems so myself and a couple engineers took the whole night getting it ready. They sent me home when everyone came in for work the next morning. But we got it out the door. Those are things you just have to do. Back then it was more customized and there were less people so it took more time. We didn’t have the same day or next day shipping like we do now. It was a lot different back then.