To hear Les Winkler’s story is to hear a history of the surface finishing industry. And that story takes you from Michigan to Texas.
“This industry is built on relationships,” Les said of the surface finishing industry. “At some point all of the players have either worked for or with each other.”
“In the end, though, they are all focused on the customer.”
Les should know. A 45-year veteran of the industry, Les has been with A Brite Company since 1994 and is currently its Chief Operating Officer. A Brite Company is the leader in the metal finishing industry for process chemistry and equipment. A Brite is based in Garland, Texas.
“Before coming to A Brite, I worked for the competition for years,” Les said. “I’ve known Frank for most of my career and when he and I would talk, Frank would always ask ‘When are you coming to work with us?’”
“For years I kept answering ‘Why should I?’ while continuing to watch A Brite grow until one day when I actually said to Frank, ‘Why not?’”. That was the day I went to work for A Brite,” Les said.
Frank is Frank Dunigan, the CEO of A Brite.
With a BS in Chemistry from Wayne State University, Les has learned the business by doing a variety of things during his career. And he’s worked for companies that are among the leaders in the specialty chemicals industry, including Udylite and McGean and Rohco.
“I’ve been in sales, service, training, marketing, manufacturing operations and compliance,” Les said. “But it was always customer focused.”
Les is most proud of A Brite’s recent ISO 9001 certification.
“That’s just the icing on the cake.”
Les and the rest of the A Brite family can be reached at 214-291-0400 or through the website.
No comments:
Post a Comment