Manufacturing products to support our customers in the fight against coronavirus – Meet Paul from Mount Holly Springs
Ahlstrom-Munksjö makes products that serve many critical industries around the world helping to fight the coronavirus pandemic, including medical and food packaging industries.
Plants in Mount Holly Springs (Pennsylvania) and Bethune (South Carolina) manufacture products to help in the fight against COVID-19. Plant Manager Paul Wheeler tells about his work and how the teams in both plants have been working as one in these exceptional times.
Meet Paul…
Paul Wheeler is the Plant Manager for the Mount Holly Springs (Pennsylvania) and Bethune (South Carolina) facilities. He has worked at Ahlstrom Munksjö for more than two years and is responsible for safety, quality, production, supply chain, maintenance and CapEx at both Mount Holly Springs & Bethune.
On the subject of his team, Paul explains, “I am part of a global team serving the customers of the Liquid Technologies Business Unit as well as the local teams of Mount Holly Springs & Bethune. I have a great team of managers reporting to me at both locations. In all cases, I have been very impressed with the dedication to customer satisfaction and managing a complex business process and product portfolio.”
“By far, our biggest contribution (and challenge) during the COVID-19 crisis has been keeping up with the demand for products that go into diagnostic test kits for COVID. We manufacture unique materials that have very specific lateral flow capabilities, and the rolls/sheets are cut to very small sizes and tight tolerances.”
In addition to keeping up with diagnostic demands, Paul believes a similarly challenging issue to arise from the COVID-19 situation has been staying on top of the best means necessary to keep Ahlstrom-Munksjö employees safe. “We appreciate their hard work toward the COVID fight, and as an essential manufacturing operation in this fight, there isn’t any other choice but to keep doing what we do best. Our operators and supervisors have come to work every day and followed safety protocol in order to keep each other healthy, but also supply material to the world that will help end this pandemic.”
Before ending our conversation, we asked Paul which of Ahlstrom-Munksjö’s six Culture Cornerstones can he relate to most.
“It’s so difficult to choose only one, but I think customer centricity helps to drive the need for the others. If we don’t tie the others together successfully, we will not meet customer needs and would ultimately lose to the competition. Part of our strategy is profitable growth, so if we listen carefully to the customer’s needs, the rest will follow.”