Denise Rosenau, Author at SJF Material Handling Blog

Employee Spotlight – Vance Haugen

June 20, 2024August 19, 2014 by Denise Rosenau

Well, it’s finally happened – our employee spotlight has shone its beam into the deep and dark world of our sales department. No matter the risk to body and soul, your intrepid reporter will brave this chasm of depravity and malfeasance* to bring you ever closer to understanding the people who make SJF tick.

Today, we get to meet Vance Haugen. Vance would be considered one of the elder statesmen of the sales department, having been here since 2007. Let’s learn a little more about Vance Haugen and what drives him to be one of SJF’s top-notch solutions specialists.

*It has been brought to my attention that not everybody would take this as the joke that it is. I truly like and admire all of my coworkers, but it’s always fun to give them a bit of a hard time – especially the sales guys.

Name: Vance Haugen

When did you start working at SJF? April, 2007

What do you like most about working at SJF? Working with my associates.

What do you enjoy doing when you’re not at work? Golfing and spending time with my grandchildren.

What’s your favorite day of the week? Friday.

Biggest pet peeve? When I’m supposed to be somewhere and other people are holding me up.

What is something about you that people would be surprised to know? I enjoy cooking.

After Work Trap Shooting

January 30, 2019July 30, 2014 by Denise Rosenau

SJF just acquired an Olympic quality clay pigeon launcher so that we could offer employees the opportunity to burn off some stress after work by doing a little target shooting. Â The idea originally came about when a group of employees expressed in interest in shooting clays. Recently, SJF had the opportunityÂ to purchase this high qualityÂ clay throwerÂ and decided to start a friendly bi-weekly target shooting club.

Loading Clay Pigeons This past week saw SJF’s employees getting together after hours to break in the new Atlas clay pigeon machine.Â Needless to say, there was no lack of verbal taunting during the inaugural event. By the time the sun started to set,Â severalÂ challenges were made and accepted which will (of course) need to be settled in the weeks ahead. Stay tuned for moreÂ updates and photos.

Shown left, Dave Kieper brings more clay targets for the new Atlas thrower.

SJF Hires Three New Solutions Specialists

January 30, 2019July 24, 2014 by Denise Rosenau

After an exhaustive search, SJF Material Handling (Winsted, MN) has hired three new solutions specialists (sales staff). Â These three are stepping intoÂ some pretty big shoes that were recently vacated by a couple of other very prolific sales staff. Â We sincerely wish them all the best and are looking forward to seeing what new skills and talents they can add to our growing family at SJF.

Eric Thovson comes to us with an auto sales and marketing background, and is very active in his community.

Thomas Moore has previous experience sellingÂ Skid Loaders and Compact Mini Skid Loaders and enjoys working with his cattle on his farm.

If you call in and talk w/one of these gentlemen, please welcome them, and wish them luck in this new endeavor.

Employee Spotlight – Lori Bachel

May 3, 2024July 1, 2014 by Denise Rosenau

Lori Bachel

Today’s Employee Spotlight introduces us to Lori Bachel. Lori is a finance machine! Any and all orders sent in to SJF will pass through her hands at least once.

The sales people give Lori a lot of flak, but she’s the one making sure that all of our ducks are in a row. Without Lori at the helm, we would be lost.

Name: Lori Bachel

When did you start working at SJF? January, 2011

What do you like most about working at SJF? That the supervisors trust that I will get my work done without hovering over me and micro-managing. I also like that most everyone at SJF has a pretty good sense of humor and are forgiving when you’re having a bad day.

What do you enjoy doing when you’re not at work? I love to ride my motorcycle, it instantly puts a smile on my face. I also love hanging out with my kids, and doing most anything outside. Oh, and if I get a free 5 minutes, a good book is great.

What’s your favorite day? Thanksgiving

Biggest pet peeve? People who start a sentence with “It just…” It instantly puts my hackles up.

Name something about you that people would be surprised to know. I hate getting out of bed. Even though I get to work bright and early, it’s a struggle. If I could, I would l live in bed, pay my bills there, eat there, watch TV there. I would stay in bed until I had bed sores.

What question would you like to answer that you didn’t get asked? What two foods would I have if stranded on a deserted island and it is all I could eat forever? Jerky and Pizza Rolls.

Employee Spotlight – Shawn Heaver

May 3, 2024May 19, 2014 by Denise Rosenau

Hello, readers! We are going to try out something new today. We have decided to take one of our employees and shine the spotlight on them so that you can better understand who we are and what makes us tick.

We also want to thank the incredible people we have working here who fill orders, load trucks, refurbish equipment, do paperwork, and all of the other messy jobs that come with running a successful material handling equipment company.

That said, our first Employee Spotlight falls on Shawn Heaver. He runs the day-to-day dock operations, as well as works in the yard fulfilling orders from time to time.

Name: Shawn Heaver

Year started at SJF: 2005

What do you like most about working at SJF? I get to work with all different kinds of machinery. I’m a big machine guy.

What do you enjoy doing when you’re not at work? Relaxing and gaming.

What’s your favorite game? God of War (PS3)

Do you have any other hobbies? Mostly sitting on the couch, trying to figure out what games can you win real money with. But as far as physical activity, bike riding and walking. I try to ride my bike to work when the weather is nice.

What’s your favorite day? Friday, because it’s payday and the weekend is just around the corner.

What is your biggest pet peeve? When people smack their lips when they’re eating.

Name one thing about yourself that people would be surprised to know. Nothing – I’m a pretty low-key guy.

A year in the Life of Material Handling Sales

January 5, 2021February 20, 2014 by Denise Rosenau

December 20^th marked my 1 year anniversary in SJF fully commissioned sales. I have to say – It was a year that flew by fast. I learned an enormous amount about our different product and service offerings and was introduced to the fast and furious world of fully commissioned sales.

At the end of the year, when all things were tallied, I’ll admit I was a bit deflated. Although my end of year grand total was nothing to sneeze at ($700K+), the monies earned weren’t where I was hoping they would be. But to keep a little perspective, I still have a roof over my head and food in the fridge, so I decided to stay on course for year 2.

As luck would have it, in the very first month or 2014, I reached a personal sales goal of over $100K sold in one month. This one winning month provided me hope, inspiration and a new drive to see what else I can accomplish in wild world of material handling sales.

SJF Named to Supply Chain “Power 50” List

January 30, 2019February 11, 2014 by Denise Rosenau

Over at Supply Chain Opz, they just released their “Power 50” list. Â This list representsÂ the most outstanding supply chain blogs and their contents. This list is curated based on an algorithm using social shares (tweets, likes, google+ mentions, etc) to determine the best of the best Supply Chain Blogs on the web for 2014.

SJF is proud to be listed in such company as…

Penske
Bastian
Ryder
DC Velocity
and many more…

as one of the top influential blogs in the Supply Chain and Logistics industry. Â Check out the rest of the list here.

New Upgrades Make a Safer More Efficient Workplace

January 30, 2019December 12, 2013 by Denise Rosenau

Hello again, readers!

Today I’d like to tell you about some improvements we have going on at SJF’s headquarters in Winsted, MN. These updates are part of an initiative to make the shop safer and production easier on the employees. First, SJF is installing a brand new crane-way. This overhead structure will allow workers to more easily move rack, conveyor and carousel projects around the shop easily.