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Celebrating Terry L. Hammer’s Retirement

Terry L. Hammer was a gift to Kalas. He was here only 7 years, but in that short time he made a positive impact on all that he touched. Terry was hired on March 2, 2011 through staff management. After a year in battery cable assembly for them, he transitioned to working for Kalas. It wasn’t long to realize Terry had “it”. He learned fast. He felt privileged to do what he did. He valued the people that worked around him. He was unique. When a position opened in Shipping & Receiving in our ECPD division, Terry was asked to take that on. After a short time there he was asked to transition into being a cell lead for our ECPD cutters as well. In Terry’s words, he knew how to work hard because of his past and it wasn’t a question whether he’d accept the new challenges or be able to rise to meet them. Capability in his roles and desire to do his work well was a theme throughout his life.

Terry sees every stage of his life preparing him for the next one. They are all integrated and meaningful. As a young kid, he began working in a store. Even before age 10 he learned how to be a worker in a local shop. Then as a teenager, he worked in a store & garden center. After one small task where his manager noticed he went above and beyond, he was asked to rise to other roles to help with areas that were beyond what he’d been hired for. It was just his nature to take work seriously, to do jobs well, to organize what would be organized and to appreciate all of the people around him. Later in life, he rose to a Platoon Sargent in the marines where he says he learned the ethic of working hard even more than he had before.

The past 5 years he’s been working in shipping and receiving in our Denver facilities where he is known well by all within his plant. Although he did his job exceptionally well, he was known most for his large loving personality. When asked what his favorite part of working at Kalas was, without needing to think he answered “Working around my coworkers.” and there is no doubt in Kalas’ mind that was true. He loved to make everyone laugh. He’d plan out meals almost once a month to feed his team simply because he loved them. Not a week would go by where he didn’t try to gift his coworkers like friends in the lunchroom offering them extra fruit he bought or sweets or simply take time to chat with them. In his own words, he said “They are like friends. Talking to people, being nice to them. That’s how I got good at my job.”

And these friends of his were vital to his well being too. Three years ago, Terry was diagnosed with stage four lymphoma. Terry says their support during that time was invaluable. When asked what he will miss most about Kalas he responds, “I’ll miss everyone here. That’s why I always made food for them. I like to share. It’s bitter-sweet. I don’t like saying goodbyes. I like saying hellos.”

Celebrating Terry's Retirement Luncheon

Terry’s Retirement Luncheon

Today, Terry says hello to his next stage in life – retirement. He’s excited to travel starting with Utah this June and Philippines in August. His personality, work ethic, perspective and warm heart have served him well in his working years and we have no doubt will continue to be his greatest gift to this world. Today Terry has stage one lymphoma and still looks forward to coming back for visits to see his friends at Kalas.

You will be missed, Terry. Although you are retired, you will always be an irreplaceable family member of Kalas. Thank you for your impact and incredibly positive mark you have left on Kalas. We are better because of your season here and we wish you the absolute best in retirement!

Celebrating Our Employees – May Honoree

Meet Lyn Hassler, a very special member of our Kalas Family. At the end of June, Lyn will be celebrating 44 ½ years with Kalas!  Lyn’s history is not only remarkable for his loyal tenure, he has worked in various roles and departments throughout the company with unremitting enjoyment here.

Beginning in December of 1970, following 4 years of service in the Air Force, Lyn spent 8.5 years driving truck around Philadelphia (for a wage of $2.50/hr!). During that season he also had the opportunity to gain work experience in the battery cable division and also in the Quality Control department. When Kalas expanded into a second plant in 1983, Lyn transitioned into 2nd shift supervision in the new plant #2 over the new CV line and battery cable division, which was then located in plant #2. He worked in that role until 1988 when he gladly accepting a role in the Purchasing Department.  He remained working in that role until retirement in June 2014, only to come back part-time three years later where he currently works as one of our senior buyers.

With almost 44 ½ of history at Kalas, Lyn has seen a lot of changes the biggest being when the company was physically growing and expanding. In Lyn’s words “One only needs to tour plant #2 from front to back to see all the building additions to the plant or see an aerial view/picture of plant #1 to see what I mean, or take a ride to see the Lancaster plant.”

Lyn says he has many great memories at Kalas but one that always stood out to him was from when he was driving truck:

“I was delivering a load of wire to a customer of ours, Great Valley Industries, in Exton, Pa. I got pulled over by a cop and I was perplexed and a bit scared wondering, since I wasn’t driving fast and I hadn’t run a red light or did anything else wrong, why was he pulling me over. The cop apparently recognized the Kalas name on the truck and he knew John Jones. He proceeded to say to me “when you see Johnny Jones tell him he owes me a set of jumper cables”, he then told me his name (which I don’t remember), and left me go to make the rest of my deliveries. By the way, John Jones did get him a set of jumper cables.”

One of the greatest parts of having Lyn in the Kalas family for so long is his gratitude. Lyn says “I always enjoyed working at Kalas and I always felt that I was treated fairly throughout my career here. Kalas was always good to me and my family. I’m so glad that a job here was available back in December of 1970, and thank you Jean Shirk for giving me a recommendation for that job.”

With a heart and mindset like that, it’s no wonder Lyn continued to enjoy working in his various roles and made the most of his nearly 44 ½ years with Kalas.

As a company, we are grateful and humbled to be able to employ such hardworking positive people such as him. Please join us in thanking Lyn for all of his years of service at Kalas!

Celebrating Service Anniversaries from 5 – 40 Years

Stories of continual commitment, hard-work and on-going development are incredibly meaningful to the Kalas family. Every few months it’s a privilege to honor numerous associates reaching anniversaries of service in their careers with the company. This month we celebrated 13 anniversaries ranging from 5 years to 40 years of work with Kalas!

Our service anniversary luncheon celebrated anniversaries occurring February through May 2018. The 13 associates honored were from roles throughout the company.

Please enjoy a few photos from the celebration and join us in thanking each honoree for their commitment and hard work over so many years!

WILLIAM D JOHNS – 15
RUSSELL J COOPER – 10
GILBERT ROSS – 5
ORLANDO MELENDEZ – 5
FRANK DAVID REPOLEY – 10
JOHN A WIEGAND – 35
VALERIA FOX – 20
TODD M PETERS – 25
RANDALL C ANSEL – 20
ELSIE I ESPADA RIVERA – 10
GLENN R MOYER – 40
RACHEL HEISEY – 5
RICKY D MECKLEY – 10

Visit KALAS in booth 514 at AIWD Annual Convention!

The Association of Independent Distributors (AIWD) was founded in 1999 as a buying group for independent business owners in the welding and compressed gas markets. Today, there membership has grown to include approximately 150 unique businesses.  This annual event affords an excellent opportunity for both members and their supporting vendor network to engage and strategize paths of growth.

KALAS is proud to be an approved vendor supporting AIWD with quality welding cable and value-add services and to be able to participate in this productive annual event.

To learn more about AIWD and this event visit: http://aiwdconvention.com/

Celebrating Our Employees – April Honoree

This month we are excited to highlight Jeffery Werner. 2018 marks his 30th year at Kalas. His history and acquired expertise is something to celebrate!

When Jeffery was 19, Kalas was a small company with not nearly as many jobs or ability to get hired easily. He was able to start working here at age 19  where he worked fork lift for 2 short months before asking if he could take an extruder position that was about to become available. After that he was trained and started his now almost 30-year career working the highly technical role of extruder operator. He currently works in Kalas Plant 2 as the Operator of Extruder 4. Over his 30 year span he’s been trained on so many extruders that he’s one of the expert operators and extremely versatile in working our extrusion machines.

With 30 years of working in the same type of role, Werner has seen what a huge impact technology has made within our organization. He remembers for years everything was by hand. All of the work orders were hand written which he follows to set and run his extruder for each job order. Now everything is by computer. What a change to have lived through!

Over the years he’s enjoyed seeing all of the growth within the company and has had many positive moments. Some rose to the top like being extruder of the month before, seeing the generations of the company change and being present for large celebrations like Kalas’ 50th anniversary.

It’s been a great 30 years and Werner really enjoys his work. He likes that to operate such a large technical piece of equipment he must think fast and be mentally engaged. But what he really appreciates most in life is that his work here at Kalas allows him to pursue his passion at home. Jeffery works 2nd and 3rd shifts so he has the availability to coach track & football at the schools where his kids are enrolled. Coaching and being in the lives of his kids are what light him up in life. He also had seasons of teaching Martial Arts before his coaching roles. It is obvious by talking to Jeffery Werner that he finds passion in life and his time at Kalas is only one space where he gets to exhibit it.

This month, let’s thank Jeffery Werner for his time, his desire to learn extrusion operation and his positive up-beat personality he brings to Kalas. We are thankful for exceptional associates like him!