50 Years of Dedication! | Independence
SMP's Independence location is proud to celebrate Chris Romine's 50 Years of Dedication!
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CHRIS ROMINE – 50 YEARS OF DEDICATION |
During the summer of 1972, Chris Romine worked for a local roofing company. At that time, Automotive Controls Corporation (ACC) had made an expansive addition to their facility. The roofing company he was working for got the bid to roof this new addition. As we are all aware, July and August in southeast Kansas are not the best weather months for working outside. Especially when you’re mopping 5-gallon buckets of hot tar and spreading chat with a grain shovel on a roof. Temperatures on the roof would reach 120 + degrees.
ACC was kind enough to let Chris’s crew use their breakroom. The first time Chris walked into the building and found that it was air-conditioned… he said, “This is the place for me.”
Chris got an application from HR, took it home, filled it out, misplaced it and forgot all about it.
On October 10, 1972, a friend called Chris and told him that ACC needed three Material Handlers, as soon as possible. Chris went back, filled out another application, turned it in and as he was about to walk out the door, the HR Manager asked how soon he could start. Chris said he was ready right then, as he had just been laid off from the roofing company. The HR Manager said, “Come with me.” They immediately went to the supervisor’s office for an interview. The supervisor asked when Chris could start and he, again, said now. The supervisor smiled and said tomorrow at 7:00 AM would be fine. Therefore, on Tuesday October 11, 1972 Chris started his journey with ACC as a Material Handler in the Electro Mechanical Voltage Regulator (EMVR) Final Assembly area.
Chris’s background before he got this job includes serving in the United States Army from 1969 to 1971. While serving, he was located in the Republic of Vietnam and Baumholder, Germany. Chris also worked for Murrell Roofing Company from 1971 to 1972, as is mentioned above. When he got his job with ACC, he was a Material Handler for two years in the EMVR Final Assembly area. Chris’s wife also got a job at ACC and worked in EMVR, silk screening regulator covers on second shift, from 1980 to 1981. Chris’s next position was Machine Set-Up for EMVR in the Base Rivet Area, before he took on the Group Leader position for EMVR from 1977 to 1988. Chris then moved to the Group Leader position for Mechanical Glow Plug from 1988 to 1997. In 1997, the year of his 25th work anniversary with ACC, Chris became the Manufacturing Representative on the ISO 9001 Team. Chris’s son, Jeremy, began working with him in 1992. Jeremy worked on second shift for five years, left to pursue other avenues in life, but eventually came back to work as a Material Handler in the stockroom. In 1998, ACC was acquired by DANA, and with this change, Chris became Supervisor of Packing, Switches, Switch Packing, Stores, Shipping & Receiving from 1999 to 2002. In 2002, he became the Lean Manufacturing Coordinator. After DANA was acquired by Standard Motor Products in 2003, Chris took the Corrective Action Coordinator position, as well as the Internal Audit Team Leader position from 2004 to 2013. Finally, in 2013, Chris became the Compliance Coordinator and Internal Audit Team Leader. This is the position Chris still holds to this day. Chris’s son became a supervisor in 2007 and one of his favorite memories over the last 50 years was when the HR manager let him sit in on the meeting where they promoted Jeremy. Chris has gotten to experience many different positions in his 50 years here at SMP, each one giving him more opportunity to grow.
We are so proud of Chris for reaching this milestone and thank him for his loyal service.