Issue 147 September 24, 2020

AMERICAN

MUSCLE

TYLER TOUGH

What are your options when you want to have an old fashioned, Texas style BBQ and your wish is to invite the entire plant, however you have a major problem that you have to

contend with? That problem, pandemic; which means no large gatherings, no touching and staying 6’ away from each other.

Well I tell you what your options are and what you do. You adjust and you figure it out. That is exactly what was going thru my mind when I went to Greg Simmons, our GM, and said, “I want to have a Bar B Que luncheon for the entire Tyler Pipe team to show our appreciation this month.” I knew what his answer was going to be, but I was ready for him. You see, serving 300 boxed lunches from McAlister’s Deli was easy, simple, and very little contact with our team. So instead of doing our traditional Bar-B-Que cookout, I’ll call up Rudy’s Bar B Que and ask if they can prepare 300 sack lunches for all 3 shifts. Instead of a deli turkey or roast beef sandwich, I said “Let’s have bar-b-que chopped beef sand-wiches, chips, cookies and we gotta make sure you have all the condiments like pickles, onions, jalapenos, and sauce. When I called up Rudy’s Bar-B-Que and told them what I wanted, the answer was, “No problem. Tell me what you want, what time and we’ll get it there.” Problem solved, no contact with the team and still able to practice social distancing.

After presenting my idea to the Event Planning team, they were more than happy to assist and were 100% behind the idea. So on Wednesday, August 19th, all members of the Planning team took 1 hour of their day to hand out Bar-B-Que sack lunches to the entire team for all 3 shifts. I was worried that the sandwiches would be cold and soggy, but Rudy’s took care of that problem by delivering fresh sandwiches every other hour. The production team was just elated to get bar-b-que this time of year and was so very appreciative. I even got requests from a few team members who were not at work that day asking if I could do it again on a day they would be working.

Just goes to show, when you put your mind to making something happen, you can make it happen. You just never know what my next idea will be..

By Faye Pettigrew

Issue 147 September 24, 2020

Who would have thought that after participating in the Fresh 15 -5k run back in March that Team Tyler Pipe’s next 5k run would be inside the Plant? Yep, you read that right. On Saturday, September 12th, Team Tyler Pipe participated in the 9th annual Tyler Run for Autism “Virtual” 5k that was held at the Tyler Pipe Foundry.

As you know, all over the world most organized races were either canceled or changed to virtual due to the Covid 19 pandemic. So it was very disappointing when we were notified the Tyler Run for Autism that was scheduled in April was going to be canceled due to the Pandemic or would be going virtual. We thought, who wants to run alone? Not Team Tyler Pipe, because as we have said so many times, we are a team. So when asked by the Tyler Run for Autism committee if we would still participate and support them as we have for the last 8 years, we answered “Heck Yeah, we’ll do it as a team.” So that’s the way the story goes and from that point on, the race was on.

The weather was perfect, the team participants were awesome, and the scenery was off the chain. David Puckett and Ross Caldwell mapped out a route that took us throughout the foundry that encompassed scenery of the foundry that some of us had not seen in years. We had an absolute fabulous time because it was different.

Tyler Run for Autism is one of Tyler Pipe’s favorite non-profit organization.

The Tyler Run for Autism began in 2012 with the purpose of

raising funds to provide much needed Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy for children on the

autism spectrum in East Texas. 100% of the funds raised are given back to children enrolled at The

Treatment and Learning Center for Children with Autism (TLC).

Team Members who participated were: Ross Caldwell (1st place), David Puckett (2nd place), Faye Pettigrew (3rd place), Gwen

Jackson (4th place), Heath Huffstetter, Greg Buckner, Gloria & Stanley Tuck, Odilon Peralta, Jennie Shephard, Ricky Bell,&

Barry Patterson

After 43 years and 1 month on the job, Melvin “Jack” Mosley finally called it quits. August 28th marked the last day Jack would have to report to Tyler Pipe. For the last few years, he has spent his nights practically running the Permanent Mold Stands. You see whenever his Supervisor, Charles Minnick, needed someone to step in the role of a Lead Man, he knew he could count on Jack. His job title was officially “Relief Worker”, however his work ethic reflected that of a Lead Man. All the guys knew if Jack was monitoring the PM Stands, then they had to get the molds right. When not acting as Lead Man, he spent most of his evenings driving his fork truck transferring iron back and forth to the Stands; he was an expert at it. Driving his fork truck is what he enjoyed most and took pride in.

However, now he will spend his time with his brother at “The Boat” in Shreveport. He said it isn’t the gambling that they go there for, but they enjoy dinner together at the different restaurants at the Casinos. He said his brother loves eating all you can eat seafood and Jack just loves going with him because he doesn’t care much for seafood at all, but his brother does. After they eat seafood, then they go enjoy the food that Jack enjoys eating.

Jack will be missed at Tyler Pipe, especially by the team members who work on the Stands as well as those in the Core Room. I would say the one person that I know who will really miss him the most is his supervisor, Charles Minnick.

So if you see him out and about, wish him a happy retirement, he deserves it.

Issue 147 September 24, 2020

Those of you who have worked for Tyler Pipe for many years know Patricia Patton. What you may not know is Patricia Patton is a recent College Graduate. She has worked for Tyler Pipe as a Waste Specialist for several years and has come to realize having a degree is a definite plus in her career field. Patricia, like many of us, went to work straight out of high school and found that once you are in the workplace continued education can seem an insurmountable obstacle, but it is a necessity with changing times.

In 2016 Patricia decided it was time for her to get back to school. She enrolled in an online environmental management program from Columbia Southern University and completed her BS in Environmental Management this past June 2020. Covid 19 has prevented her from attending her commencement in Southern Alabama but it did not stop her graduation.

Please join the entire Tyler Pipe Team in saying “Well Done” Patricia and in wishing her much future success. By Scott Harris

If you’ve ever had to work in the Texas heat along with working in an iron foundry then you can relate to what I’m talking about when I say it is HOT!! Anyone that has to endure that type of heat day in and day out, deserves a treat. That’s exactly the idea behind bringing the Kona Ice truck in the plant so everyone could enjoy the ice-cold treat.

This was a favorite last year and we had to do it again this year, so on Thursday, September 10th ,we scheduled for the Kona Ice truck to come in the plant to serve 1st and 2nd shift team members. Of course, we had to make a few modifications due to the pandemic, but that was not going to stop us. Modifications such as no one could touch the flavors but had to order from the Kona Ice Attendant and everyone had to stand in line 6 ‘apart from each other. These issues were minor compared to the one problem we didn’t plan on, which was the weather.

We initially had planned on the truck to be here in August at a time when the heat was at it’s highest, but Texas weather is something you can never set your watch on. As the old saying goes, stick around it will change tomorrow. So we rescheduled to September and it all worked out for the good. Everyone really enjoyed it and hopefully next year we’ll get to do it once more. Hopefully without the pandemic and hopefully when the weather is as we expect it to be. .....fingers crossed.

Issue 147 September 24, 2020

Donald Bright ~ 2

Michael Fulton ~ 2

Marion Howell ~ 3

Gerardo Avalos ~ 3

James Butler ~ 4

Rodrick Johnson ~ 5

Stephanie Moss ~ 5

Frederick Elliott ~ 6

Marcos Sanchez ~ 7

Denise Alvey ~ 8

Roy Lacy ~ 8

Bob Lee ~ 8

Leon Perryman ~ 9

Bart Howlett ~ 10

Lance McHenry ~ 10

Richard Bowman ~ 11

Lilia Ramirez ~ 11

Kaleum Hughes ~ 12

Jeremy Blackhurst ~ 13

Maurilio Cardenas ~ 13

Thad Hicks ~ 14

Michael Maddox ~ 14

Doug Denmark ~ 15

David Puckett ~ 15

Amber McBride ~ 16

Cherie Smith ~ 16

Don Kennedy ~ 19

Greg Garza ~ 20

Juan Fernandez ~ 22

Marco Sanchez ~ 23

Adrian Pryor ~ 24

Dan Boswell ~ 26

Dustin Bendall ~ 29

Tyler Pipe will hold a

Flu Shot Clinic for

Team Members ONLY.

WHERE: Small Training Room at the Dispensary

Thursday October 8, 2020

**TIME: 7:00 am to 3:00 pm **

Have you been Targeted to receive an Appreciation Gift? What is T.A.G’ed you ask? It is when team members get rewarded for their outstanding efforts in performance and or contributions in areas of safety, environmental or production. They go above and beyond their normal duties and it is recognized by Management. Therefore they are rewarded by choosing a logo item of their choice.

Congratulations to these team members who have been T.A.G’ed this year.

Glenn Ferrell - Maintenance Tyrone Campbell - Mill Room

Gloria Tuck - Accounting Dan Boswell - Purchasing

John Williams - Maintenance Troyce Gibson - Maintenance

Justin Sessions - Maintenance Fernando Soriano - Core Room

Mitchell Tuck - Shipping Lance Lyle - Shipping