December Commerce Connections

December 2015 ‐ Page 1



December 2015

Our Best Days are Yet to Come

Table of Contents

Q & A with Jeff Hedges

New Hire Luncheon

4

6

7

Re rees

10

Community Corner

13

Christmas Trivia

14

15

OPEX Mug Shots

January Birthdays 16


I t seems like such a short me ago that we were all gathered together celebra ng 40 years since my parents bought OPEX Corpora on. The imag‐es are s ll fresh in my mind of all of the wonder‐

ful people we have been fortunate to work with over the last 40 years. I just want you to know how grate‐ful I am for all that you have done with us throughout the years. Well, we are just about to put another year be‐hind us and start a new year. I have to admit that I am red from the old, but really energized by the new. Let me just out‐line several things that con nue to give me ener‐gy. 1. We have such a great

team of people that

are dreaming of our next steps at OPEX. I truly

feel that those leading our organiza on right now

are some of the finest minds around. (They may

not be much to look at, but they are really smart.)

2. Our recrui ng of new talent is be er than it has

ever been. This will provide for further great lead‐

ership, both in thought and design, for years to

come. It is the pla orm for the future of OPEX.

3. The finances of the company con nue to be very

strong. We s ll have no debt, although we are

growing at a rapid pace. We are looking to buy

another new building and expand our capacity to

produce equipment. Along with this expanded

capacity, we will be adding some new capabili es,

as well. This will allow us to further control our

own des ny while providing us a more profitable

way to produce our equipment.

4. Sales of new prod‐

ucts seem to be advancing

at a record pace. I have

li le doubt that this will

be the biggest year in the

history of OPEX. Just so I

am clear, I think that we

will be able to set a record

with the scanners that we

sell as well as the material

handling equipment. Both

of our markets are healthy

and con nue to produce

great results.

5. There is a good vibe around the organiza on. Peo‐

ple are excited about what is going on and they

are doing what they can to make things even

be er for our customers. I hear laughter in the

hallway……and I like it.

6. I guess the thing that gives me the most energy is

you. Thanks for being a part of what has been a

good year. Thanks for working hard with me to

make this the greatest year that we have ever ex‐

perienced. Our best days are yet to come.

Our Best Days are Yet to Come

By: David Stevens, President / CEO




R ecently, I sat down with Jeff Hedges to discuss the Material Handling Division past, present and future. See excerpts of our conversa on in the ar cle below.

CC: How do you feel about the Material Handling Divi-sion growth in 2015? JH: Very, very good. Not only do we have great projects booked but they could lead to repeat business in the future. Material Handling spent 2015 developing rela onships with some poten al, very large companies that could lead to mul –year order commitments. CC: How many systems did we add in 2015? JH: Five systems . We doubled our client base just in 2015. CC: What do you an cipate in 2016? JH: The growth curve is tremendous and the poten al customer base is HUGE. Perfect Pick is proving to be very successful in compe ng against other automated technology. Word is spreading and customers are learning about our technology. We have calls constantly coming in. We are inundated with interest from ads, case studies, word of mouth, trade shows, and integrators. We are very, very fortunate that 90% of our business is being driven by how we market our product. CC: Can we an cipate new Material Handling products in 2016? (Perfect Pick is 3 years old) JH: Obviously this is a confiden al. But we have a strong development group looking into new possibili es and learning new solu ons in the Material Handling world. CC: Are you expanding the Division? How large do you envision the department being in the next year? JH: We hope to double the department. Currently, we are aggressively looking for analy cal exper se to make upfront evalua ons, si through data and determine whether we can meet poten al customers’ needs.

Q & A with Jeff Hedges, President—Material Handling Division


B ecause you all faithfully read every edi on of the Commerce Connec ons, you are certainly aware that OPEX Corpora on

was named the 2015 NJ Manufacturer of the Year in the Large Corpora on cate‐gory by NJMEP (New Jersey Manufactur‐ing Extension Program) and NJBIZ (New Jersey Business Journal) this past Octo‐ber. On the rare chance that you missed it, the full ar cle can be read in the November edi‐

on of the e‐Commerce Connec ons. A really big congratula ons to each of you for helping to make OPEX what it is today! Anyway, as if being named NJ Manufacturer of the Year wasn’t cool enough, we also got a visit from Congressman Tom MacArthur, who represents New Jersey’s 3rd District! His office became aware of the award we received; and since OPEX is right in his own backyard, the congressman decided to come see the fabulous opera on for himself. Just before Thanksgiving, we hosted Congressman MacArthur and a small entourage of folks from NJMEP at our world headquarters in Moorestown. Having a bit part in the visit as the “OAP” (official amateur photographer), I got to par cipate in this memorable event. Let me give you the details about his visit: The day began with Al Stevens, Chairman of the Board of OPEX, gree ng the Congressman and folks from NJMEP at the 305 building World Headquarters before si ng down for a few minutes in the lobby confer‐ence room to provide a brief history of the company. Frankly, I don’t get red of hearing that story. It’s pre y awesome to hear about the transi on from “humble beginnings to a global technology leader.” If you aren’t aware of the story, you can read about it on our website, or request a copy of Celebrate 40 – History, Principles, and Values from Human Resources. We met up with Doug Hendry, who started our tour through the manufacturing facili es. From the Woodshop & Paintshop and through the Machine shop, Doug did a wonderful job demonstra ng to our guests our commitment to being involved in every por on of the manufacturing process ‐ from raw mate‐rials to final product. It was obvious to me that the Congressman was quite taken with the quality of our facili es, our work, and our workers. It is true that many other US companies have outsourced their manufacturing opera ons – but not us. I believe that OPEX’s commitment to owning their manufacturing & produc on processes and hiring the best people is one of the most intriguing and endearing characteris cs of our company.

NJ Congressman Visits 2015 ManBy: Tim Osman, M


The tour moved over to the demo room in the 835 building where both Kurt Stoneking and Herb Thiel delivered first class demos of the Eagle and Falcon, our two flagship “birds of prey” that provide the most efficient way to process remi ances and scan documents respec vely. I was impressed with the congressman’s level of ques ons and general com‐prehension of the various markets we serve with our products. Come to find out, Tom MacArthur was once in the insurance business – no wonder he un‐derstood! John Kretzu then toured the group through our pro‐duc on facility where he expertly demonstrated our LEAN produc on areas: OMATION, REDs and Scan‐ners, Capital equipment, and Perfect Pick iBOT as‐sembly. John was instrumental in modifying our pro‐duc on and assembly areas to operate more effi‐ciently. This has benefited OPEX in quite a number of ways including increasing our capacity to produce a greater variety of products with higher quality than ever before. You can read more about LEAN Think‐ing on our website. You know, we have some of the best folks in the world working for OPEX. While the tour was going on, I observed that the Congressman and others of his entourage were checking out the work that was going on, at mes stopping for a brief conversa on with an employee here and there. Everyone was on point with their work, the shop areas were neat and

dy, and those that had the opportunity to chat were pleasant and engaging. That wasn’t some act put on for show. You all are that way day in and day out.

nufacturer of the Year—That’s us! Marke ng Manager






Congratula ons to the following employees re ring from OPEX in 2015. Take at look a their length of service. They are faithful, hardworking employees that will be missed.

Mike Auber (1999‐2015) Service Technician

John Babich (2007‐2015) Service Technician

Grant Lee (2010‐2015) Service Technician

Donald Kwiatkowski (2000‐2015) Service Technician

Dale Shiner (2003‐2015) Support Engineer

Tom Yohnson (2007‐2015) Warehouse Assistant

Donald Pike (2013‐2015) Service Technician

Rock Desmanche (1991‐2015) Service Technician

Greg Murphy (1998‐2015) Welder

Dan Fawce (2001‐2015) Quality Control Engineer

Jim Driscoll (2005‐2015) Senior Member Technical Staff

Lonnie Lo on (1995‐2015) Service Technician

Happy Re rement!

Lonnie Lo on is pictured above, in the center, wearing a dark green OPEX polo shirt.



2-Jan Al Popovich

3-Jan Jose Torres, Diane Hu ner

4-Jan John Maciulis, Ray Fritz, Mark Vanderbeck, Tommy Dellinger

5-Jan Steve Bichlmeier

6-Jan Tim Osman, Jon Jacobs, Hilko Riedel, Ryan Corcoran, John Kretzu,

Rob Gougher

8-Jan Marty Mar n, Jim Liebler

9-Jan Andrew Magilton, Alex Sotomayor

11- Jan Stephen Mitchell

12-Jan Tom Guerrero, Juan Cruz, Eric Burne

13-Jan Joe Kovach, Bob Dunahoo, Hamid Bensrih

14-Jan Kirk Johnson, Gianfranco Lucich, Shawn Viar, Ian Shirt

16-Jan Beth Ann Ferner, Tommy Azzaro

17-Jan Joe Larrimore, Rich Nece

18-Jan Ernie Pfersich, Clement Paquet

20- Jan Jon Ellio , Hector Rios

22- Jan Jon Longshaw, Bryan Roux

23- Jan Shenny Paul, David Meyers

24-Jan Nenad Vujovic, Idir Fatmi

25-Jan Vince Mar nez, Sandi Ditore

26-Jan Ron Hamilton

27-Jan Alan Seddon, Didier Tirquit , David Gautron, Peter Patrick

28- Jan Joe Alston, Rich Stevens

29-Jan Steven Sykes, Virgil Winkelman, Xavier Demoures

30-Jan Steve Eiding, Chris Saltzgueber

31-Jan Dave Gayliard, Archie Gibson


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December Commerce Connections

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