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Ronald Benson BA , MBA both in Business

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35 Years Experience in Industrial Management Expert

Ronald Benson Quick Facts

Main Areas: Industrial management
Career Focus: Worked 35 years in various Management positions dealing with UAW employees.
Affiliation: Retired from Deere and Company, University Northern Iowa, St. Ambrose University

I was a manager for 35 years in an Industrial Environment.

My career started as an Industrial Forklift Operator in a Foundry Operation. The type of foundry that is non-existent today, where the air quality was less than desirable and a white person would enter the premises white but leave the work area with a lot of black on his/her exposed skin. But as they say, if you can't drive a truck promote him to a supervisor. So having a college degree in business management I accepted the offer for a 3rd shift supervisor dealing with UAW employees. This was in 1972. The areas supervised included receiving, WIP inventory, line fill picking, and repair parts packaging. I worked as a first line supervisor at various facilities until 1979, when I was promoted to a middle manager.

As a middle manager I held several positions ranging from General Supervisor,
Manager of Methods Engineering, Manager of External Operations, Cost Reduction Manager, Division Manager in Industrial Engineering and numerous Special Assignment Projects. Special assignments included management assignments at other factories, start-up facility assignments, Industrial Relations assignment.

All of these assignments required the use of critical management skills
which I will summarize as follows:
Planning, interpersonal skills, creativity, listening skills, execution, delegation, driving for results, operating with integrity and earning the
respect of others, respecting the other person, treating people fairly,
negotiation, etc.

I have a BA and MBA in business. I retired in 2007.
My website is http://www.bestincomebuilderbiz.com

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Favorite Quotes & Thoughts from Ronald Benson

Industry went through many changes from when I started to when I retired.

When I started my career computers were used to collect data, but information was

generated on reports from the previous days activity. Eventually we transitioned to

information systems that were dynamic and provded immediate feedback. The technology and systems design revolutionized productivity gains.

When I started we pretty much expected employees to leave their brains at the door, providing minimal input, other than through suggestion systems. Our support areas would design and dictate how things were to be done. We had a huge staff of engineers in all fields.

Well America got smart, we started tapping the mental skills of our workforce via team building and empowerment. First line supervisors and middle managers had to give up power and control. Things were changing for the better.

During the latter years of my career, there was an increase in the level of participation and cooperation from the workforce. See, employees had to transition to leadership roles and being more accountable. Some employees still prefer to not get involved and just do their job. The reason it is working is attributed to the upper levels of the corporation and the UAW. Both parties understood in order to continue to improve productivity and growth in the enterprise,this path was critical to survive.

In summary, I experienced many changes in the transition of a non-empowered workforce to a very empowered workforce. I experienced first hand the

technology and system changes and the positive effect they had on productivity

and growth to the enterprise. I saw a total change in management principles.

I experienced a very rewarding career by watching the barriers between management and workforce be greatly diminished. Massive cooperation between the employees and management is critical to grow the business.