I have been involved in manufacturing for most of my life; my father, Wally Parmelee, started an injection molding company in the early 80s, then and still known as Wepco Plastics. He took a tremendous risk in doing so. With a wife, two kids, and a mortgage, this decision was not an easy one for him to make nor embark on. I would like to believe that almost every person that takes a similar risk takes it for a reason. Possibly they think they can do better in some way, whether it be by providing a better quality of life for themselves or their family, or by creating a better environment for the people that work for them.
In my father’s case, I believe that he thought he could create a better place to work, a better work environment, one that employees would enjoy being in every day. My father has always put the people that work for him first. If someone needed help of any kind, he would give it to them. If they were down on their luck, they could go to him for support. He has employed many people over 35+ years, he has helped people that needed a second chance in life, and he has taken care of family members, friends, and strangers. He has always tried to do the right thing by his customers, as well as his staff. You could even say that he has done so to a fault at times, but if you ask him, I don’t think he would have it any other way. I can testify to his kindness as his son. I have worked for my father for almost 20 years. When I became president of the company, I made some pretty big changes and he has always supported them, even when he didn’t fully agree with some of them.
A few years after I took over, one of the changes we made was the shift to an EOS model, also known as Traction. One of the first things you have to do in this process is list out your vision for the company, along with your core values. When you do this, you describe the people of your organization and all traits they bring to the company. You then gather your team values and create company values. When we did this, something quite interesting and extraordinarily special occurred… the values we came up with based on the people that worked at our company, some for 30 years and some for only a few years, fell exactly in line with what my father and I discussed about his values and vision when starting the company. This realization reinforced that we had the right people in the right seat, and furthered honoring my father and what he built Wepco Plastics upon.
Our core values are as follows:
Always Do the Right Thing
Never Stop Improving
Impact Our Community
Do More
Small manufacturing companies are started by men and women who want to do better, for themselves, for the people that work for them, and for their communities. They employ great people that work hard and are passionate about what they do.
I am honored to be a part of a place full of people that will carry out the tradition that was started over 30 years ago, in my fathers basement, with one machine and a seven year old riding his bike around the metal chips flying in the air, music playing. My father is a guy that took a chance to make himself and his family better, but didn’t understand at the time just how many lives he would impact in a positive way. Wally is a man of integrity; he is not perfect but who is. He will always aim to do the right thing, he will always value improvement, he will always make a positive impact on his community, and he will always do more than the bare minimum.
I have made it a value to build on the amazing things that my father has done over the last 35 years. I will continue to strive to stay true to these values and take them into consideration every time I make a decision, now and in the future. These are very big shoes to fill, but we as a team are more than willing to accept that challenge.
Thank you, Dad, for the opportunity to follow in your footsteps.