New plant manager finds perfect fit with IPEX Lynchburg team
After joining IPEX as plant manager in Lynchburg, Virginia in spring 2023—following work experiences in Europe and Asia—Chris Scotney has had a busy few months getting to know his new home and team.
And although he is a recent addition to the company and the United States, Chris has quickly made himself at home, hitting the ground running with new initiatives improving plant safety, communication and customer service.
The journey to Lynchburg
A seasoned plant manager originally from England, Chris was with his previous company for 12 years, working in the U.K., China, and Macedonia before joining IPEX in Virginia. Before settling in, Chris and his family also took the opportunity to tour the U.S. and Canada.
With a focus on finding ways to work as a team to drive results, his new role at IPEX suits his personality to a T.
“I absolutely love being a plant manager. I enjoy that it’s a continuous challenge,” says Chris. “We try and get ourselves in a position where we’re constantly winning—it’s not a game where you win as an individual; it’s a game you win as a team.”
The benefits of team experience
100 people on Chris’s team are spread over two production areas, making gasketed joint injection-molded fittings for drainage, sewer and underwater pipes as well as ductile iron parts. Chris’s role is to lead and grow the plant, ultimately ensuring products are meeting customers’ needs.
He also aims to continually improve operations, whether it’s improving delivery times, quality, productivity or efficiency. Additionally, Chris works with the team on challenges that may come up during a shift.
So far, he explains, he has eased into his role with the help of IPEX’s experienced employees at Lynchburg, some of whom have been at the plant for more than 25 years.
“The people are a big part of it. Collectively, they have a lot of experience, they’re very welcoming, and are a really good group of people. At the same time, there’s loads of opportunity for us to grow as a plant, in terms of size and capability.”
A drive to improve plant safety and communication
Chris is coming into his role with a primary focus on manufacturing excellence, quality and safety, and has already hired a Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) Specialist to drive performance and improvements in these areas.
Another key goal for Chris is improving transparency and communication. Soon after taking on the plant manager role at Lynchburg, Chris started an initiative to increase communication throughout the facility by holding plant manager breakfast meetings with all employees.
“I held sessions with small groups of people to cover everybody. I wanted to get to know them and understand what’s working at the plant and what could be improved on. We’ve managed to address quite a lot of the points.”
Recently, Chris also held a town hall for all plant employees to provide a better understanding of sales numbers and plant strategy. He introduced a monthly dashboard to measure key performance indicators better. Topics like customer feedback, injuries and scrap rate are discussed. Chris is also leading a new weekly management meeting, with the hopes of moving to daily management check-ins in the near future.
The future is bright
After only a few months on the job, Chris is just getting started. While he has many more initiatives coming down the pipe for the Lynchburg plant, with his experience and a great team around him, things are already moving in the right direction.
“If you are a manager coming in and you have the skills along with the right attitude and work ethic, you’re going to be successful,” says Chris.
To read more news and views from IPEX employees, visit the Employee Perspectives blog.