The Revere family suffered a deep loss last week with the death of long-time employee, Arthur (AT) Thomas, director of operations. After a year-long battle with diabetes, AT succumbed to a combination of flu and pneumonia. Gregarious, kind, and helpful, he was a key member of our management team.
AT started with Revere in 1996 as a shop technician. He quickly demonstrated leadership and initiative and rose to become in charge of shop operations and facilities management. AT oversaw implementation of such improvements as team leaders in the shop and rigorous scheduling that improved predictive shop loading to achieve a 98 percent on-time delivery record.
Comprehensive training for new employees, high volume panel production, and a multi-point panel quality checklist came into being under his watch. He also professionalized the management of our fleet of vehicles to assure readiness and availability when employees requested a vehicle for short-term business use.
He was responsible for justifying and implementing acquisition of a CNC panel workstation that resulted in a 40 percent savings in labor for drilling and tapping panels and sub-panel backboards, making it possible for the shop to reach the level of more than 4,000 panels produced per year. And he grew a fledgling build-to-print business into a multi-million dollar pillar of our operation.
His big smile and bigger personality were fixtures at the company, and he will be sorely missed. He has left behind a wonderful legacy and big shoes to fill.