Leader Views
ISO Re-certification Remote Audit
ISO Re-certification Remote Audit CREATIVITY and FLEXIBILITY are two crucial skills needed to function during the 2020 pandemic environment, and maintaining a certified ISO-based quality system is no exception. With quarantine requirements instituted between some...
October 2020 Anniversaries
October 2020 Anniversaries It's "Spooky Season" – but one thing that has been no Trick and all Treat is our amazing team members! This October, we are shouting out Brenda Carrick who is a KEP team member who started in 1977! An Inspector in our Winesburg facility,...
Meet Michael Singharath
Michael Singharath works as a tender at our Mogadore facility. A newer addition to the KEP team, rounding out 2 years in January, Michael has already made clear his dedication to keeping our operations running smoothly and is always excited when new opportunities are...
Industry – Coming Back to Life – But Never “Back to Normal”
Industry – Coming Back to Life – But Never “Back to Normal" “We can't control an uncharted sea, but we can direct our sails and navigate through anything as a team."– Joe Williamson I find it personally inspiring as KEP navigates through the challenges and changes of...
6 Months Later – KEP Challenges & Accomplishments
6 Months Later – KEP Challenges & Accomplishments It will take time to understand the full impact of the 2020 pandemic – on our company, industry and even our families and communities. But in just six months, we already have gained perspective on KEP’s response to...
Happy Retirement, Karen McRobie!
Happy Retirement, Karen McRobie! After 45 great years with KEP, we wish Karen McRobie a happy retirement! Karen worked at our Winesburg facility as our Shipping Coordinator / Administrator! While we were sad to see Karen go, we are so excited for her to enjoy this...
KEP’s Key to Transformation
KEP's Key to Transformation Nobody had more influence in changing Kent Elastomer to what we’ve become than Murray Van Epp. Murray was hired at KEP as Executive Vice President of Sales in 1988 after a career in pharmaceutical sales, then later, as VP Sales for...
September 2020 Anniversaries
September 2020 Anniversaries We have another month of team member anniversaries to bring recognition to! For the month of September, we are highlighting Karen Raber who joined the KEP team all the way back in 1978! Karen currently works as an inspector on our latex...
A KEP Success Story
A KEP Success Story - Renée Onesti Renée Onesti began working with KEP in 2007 as the Manager of Plant Engineering and Maintenance and was promoted to Director in 2009 and Sr. Director in 2019. Renée has been in the manufacturing field for over 20 years and is...
Order Entry – Now Paperless.
Paperless Order Entry KEP employees are regularly asked to participate in kaizens – a term meaning “continuous improvement.” They bring together workers from different departments with different insights and years of experience. The result is typically a solution that...
August 2020 Anniversaries
August 2020 Anniversaries It is time to celebrate August anniversaries! This month we'd like to highlight Curt Dixon who 43 years ago joined the KEP team right out of high school. Beginning his career with KEP in the latex tubing dip room, he transitioned to extrusion...
Meet Destiny Gordon
Destiny Gordon joined KEP at our Mogadore facility in 2019. She is an Assembler and Extrusion Operator. Her tasks include coiling and assembling medical tubing and clamps to be used in hospitals and other health care facilities. She enjoys coming to work each day and...
Thriving for 60 Years
Thriving for 60 Years There has been a great shift in manufacturing since 1960 – the year Kent Elastomer Products first began to operate under the name Kent Latex Products. Since that time, many American plants have closed or moved operations offshore. Not KEP. We...
July 2020 Anniversaries
July 2020 Anniversaries While many of us were caring for Pet Rocks (which were all the rage 45 years ago), Darlene Hines and Shirley Shrock were making a much greater commitment – joining our KEP team! With a combined experience of over 200 years, we are so proud of...
Meet Cristal Westfall
For over 25 years, Cristal Westfall has been a team member at our Winesburg facility. Currently, Cristal works as an inspector in custom dipping and doubles as a line coach on our latex tubing strip line. Cristal goes above and beyond for our team. During the...
June 2020 Anniversaries
June 2020 Anniversaries Captain & Tennille was at the top of the charts and JAWS was in theaters when Karen McRobie joined the KEP team 45 years ago. While this has many of us feeling nostalgic – Karen's unwavering commitment to KEP is one thing that has never...
Meet Billie Bebout
A team member at our Winesburg facility for 2 years and counting, Billie Bebout helps KEP deliver quality products as an Extrusion Assembler. Billie has always volunteered to pick up extra jobs and tasks as needed, so it was no surprise when she stepped up to report...
Proactive, Not Reactive
Proactive, Not Reactive Since this COVID-19 pandemic is something none of us have experienced in our lifetime, my initial response was concern for family, KEP employees, and the impact to our business overall. As we learned more about the virus and what we needed to...
KEP Team Spotlight
Whole Team Spotlight This month we are pleased to put a well-deserved spotlight on the ENTIRE KEP team. As the world changed with a public health crisis, every single person on our team stepped in and stepped up to develop new products and solutions within nearly...
KEP Responds Successfully to COVID-19 Crisis
“All the work on leadership training, on communication training, on trust that we have worked so hard on in the last ten years was evident in this crisis.”By Bob ObornPresident, Kent Elastomer Products The Virus Hits the U.S.A. Like a lot of other people, I first...
May 2020 Anniversaries
May 2020 Anniversaries When Dorothy Stein joined KEP a stamp was $0.15, a gallon of gas was $0.86 (a penny more than a dozen eggs), and a new house was just $71,800! While a lot has changed over the years, Dorothy’s commitment to KEP and our customers has never...
April 2020 Anniversaries
April 2020 Anniversaries KEP has another great group of team members celebrating anniversaries this month! For KEP, improvement is more than a set of tools, it is our corporate value. We are fully committed to continuous incremental improvement. This improvement comes...
March 2020 Anniversaries
March 2020 Anniversaries Whether it’s been a quarter century of commitment or a great first year, we are proud of all of our team members who are celebrating anniversaries this month! KEP emphasizes continuous improvement, lean leadership training and communication...
Meet Timothy Hawkins
A team member at our Mogadore facility, Timothy Hawkins works as an Assembler. His attention to detail helps ensure that we provide high quality and consistent finished products to our customers and stay on top of productivity goals. For new employees and colleagues,...
Revisiting Our Order Entry Process
Revisiting Our Order Entry Process The order entry process has been refined several times since 2006 with positive changes being made to speed up the process, eliminate waste, and improve communication between the sales and production teams. However, in our ever...
Just Stand There
Just Stand There We employ a tool in our facilities called “Stand-in-a-Circle.” During this 30 minute activity, an employee stands on a multi-colored circular rug and jots down 30 observations for improvement. By turning our team into constant observers and auditors,...
Teamwork Is Our Business
Teamwork Is Our Business Will you be filling out a college basketball bracket this year? As we watch our favorite teams compete for the championship title, we'll be thinking about the teamwork it takes to enable each win! At KEP, teamwork is the essence of what it...
Our Customers Don’t Need Luck!
Our Customers Don't Need Luck! A true partnership removes the need for luck. As a KEP customer, you don't need to find a lucky four-leafed clover to ensure you're getting quality solutions, high-quality processes, a commitment to lean management and more. Here's why:...
Happy Leap Day!
Happy Leap Day! February 29 is a date that occurs only every four years. It is called Leap Day. It’s a rarity – it doesn’t come around very often. We’d like to think that our own Leeper – Don Leeper, that is – is a rarity, too. Senior Vice President of Finance and...
Virus Disrupts Sourcing – The Domestic Advantage
COVID-19 Virus Disrupts Sourcing The coronavirus is just one more in a long list of global sourcing disruptions Everything from Modern Tire Dealer to the New York Times report the severe impact of the coronavirus on Chinese business retail and manufacturing – and its...
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