Humberto Martinez
Humberto Martinez says the best thing about being a Plant Manager for Tutco (part of our Flex-Tek business) is our people.
A typical day for Humberto
With responsibility for the overall operation of our Reynosa (Mexico) facility, which manufactures the Tutco range of heating solutions, Humberto has a very broad remit.
It stretches from fiscal and employee management, and negotiations with the Unions and various local authorities, to ensuring compliance with numerous regulations including Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) and Employment Law. He also facilitates close customer and supplier relationships, and ensures service standards are maintained, to help the corporate sales team achieve their sales targets.
Safety first
Whilst this means that no two days are the same, Humberto always starts at 6.30am with a safety tour of the production facility.
Once satisfied his team are safe and satisfied, he checks other core business performance metrics from sales to on-time deliveries.
Many meetings
By 8am he begins the first of a relentless schedule of meetings throughout the day. These typically commence with a video conference of the cross-border sales team, then can cover any operational aspect from sales and the supply chain to employee communications and marketing.
In between, he addresses any pending matters and updates his various status reports.
Passionate about people
Although work can be hectic, Humberto believes his passion for people and the company’s ‘teamwork’ culture keeps him energised, saying ‘Good relationships make such a positive difference to your life.’
At work he particularly enjoys recognising employees’ achievements through the Smiths awards programme, or getting to know colleagues better through industry exhibitions, social events like the annual Mother’s Day or Independence Day lunches, or community outreach projects.
Despite Covid-19, Humberto is proud that his team found ways to keep doing these activities – for example presenting awards with social-distancing controls and their new, ‘contactless’ community project: collecting plastic bottles to exchange for the planting of trees or cacti.