July 2017 Newsletter

Don’s Did You Know?

I am sure you all know that all of our homes are built to the HUD Code, but did you know that we actually hire a third party independent inspection agency? This third party agency is in our plant just about every day inspecting all of our homes in every station to ensure that we meet or exceed the HUD standards. These inspectors check every part of our building process…from how we receive our materials to the number of nails that go in every piece of lumber. They even make sure each employee is qualified to do the task assigned to them in the building process. To say the quality standards are extremely strict would be an understatement.

We recently changed our In Plant Inspection Agency (IPIA) to a company called NTA. You will notice this on the HUD label on each half of every home we build. The HUD numbers for our homes will now start with the letters NTA. This will be a totally seamless change for you, and will only help us improve our quality process for you and our customers!


Customer Care Spotlight

Steven Cohrs Service Manager at Clayton San Antonio
In the customer care spotlight this month we have Steven Cohrs, Service Manager at Clayton San Antonio. Steven started contracting for Clayton Homes in 1997 and went to work for them as a Service Manager in 2005. His knowledge of the industry is a great asset to our company as well as our homeowners. He always goes above and beyond to help maintain them as promoters of our product, and is very well respected within our industry. We are not only blessed to have him on our team but as a valued friend as well!

Thank you Steven for all you do…we appreciate you sir!


 Service Tidbit

Just as a reminder, the storm door closer kits are in the top drawer of the kitchen drawer bank in each home.


Safety

Clayton Sulphur Springs SAFETY record is the upmost importance for our Team Members. Our Frame Shop has reached 5,774 days without a lost workday and 2,436 days without an accident. The main home building facility has reached 1,429 days without a lost workday and 85 days without an accident.

ISO Program – Sulphur Springs continues to improve on our environmental awareness, by lowering our VOCs (Volatile Organic Compound). One way we have reduced these VOCs is by switching from aerosol cans to bulk squirt bottles on most of the chemicals we use in our facility.


The Magnificent Seven

The anniversary for our facility is not the only thing that we have to celebrate! This month we had 7 team members achieve 20 years working with Clayton Sulphur Springs. This is a significant milestone that not many facilities are fortunate enough to experience.

These dedicated team members not only created the amazing culture we have today, but maintained it through all the changes during the last 20 years. They have been a part of moving the needle from building a single house a day to our current pace of 25-30 homes per week. The leadership each has provided for our other team members is what makes this group so special. Invaluable, priceless, precious, instrumental, treasured, vital…each word describes what they have meant to our team. Each of them has poured their heart and soul into making Clayton Sulphur Springs what it is today. There are countless team members that each of them has positively impacted over the last 20 years.

This group is made up of (from left to right in picture)

Wayne Anderson (Area Coordinator for Axles/Final Finish/Testing) Francisco Castro (Area Coordinator for Back Panel/Wall Set/Cabinet Set) Melissa Woodard (Human Resources) Bonnie Henley (B.O.S.S. Buyer) Tray Gilbreath (Area Coordinator for Frames/Cabinets/Electrical) and Laura Peek (Quality Assurance Manager). Richard Dannheim (Assistant Production Manager), not pictured but part of this original group, recently took a step to become the Production Manager for our new facility in Athens, TX. Richard can take to Athens the experiences learned from starting up a new facility 20 years ago and create the same culture there. There is not a better person to lead that initiative than Richard.

Congratulations to this special group…we would not be who we are today without their selfless commitment and perseverance.


STARS Training kicks off in Sulphur Springs!

Our facility had two great groups of sales professionals visit last month, which resulted in two great days of both enrichment and engagement. STARS is an acronym for Sulphur Springs Training Adds Retail Sales. This training began simply as a way to invest in the people that provide so much for our team, by arming each participant with the tools to be more productive. The one-day training involves classroom sessions for feature/benefits and a facility tour. The main draw to attend is the facility tour, which is hard to explain unless you view it in person. Each group was introduced to our team members, which helps to engage our team in seeing the bigger picture of what we do…opening doors to a better life! Everything we accomplish at our facility comes from the direct efforts of each of the retail sales professionals that represent our product. And for that, we thank you for providing for all of the families of our team members in Sulphur Springs! If you did not get a chance to participate, we plan to offer this STARS Training on a regular basis.

“You will get all you want in life, if you help enough other people get what they want.” Zig Ziglar


Quality Assurance

In order to achieve our goals here in Sulphur Springs, we use many processes to ensure that products are clean and defect free in the home. One process is in part due to our ability to work together. Robert Castaneda (Team Leader for Exterior Bottoms) looks through the orders for any sliding glass doors or atrium doors to be used the next day. He then relays that information to Anna Quintero (Assistant Team Leader for the Cleaning Department). Anna informs one of her Team Members, Amanda Burkett, who then power washes and cleans the door prior to installation. All of this ensuring that the quality reaching our customers is nothing short of amazing. Thanks to these individuals, our facility is continuing to climb the ladder to achieve complete customer satisfaction.