In our second installation of our Employee Spotlight blog series, we highlight Production Manager David Ziegman.

David joined us in 2007 and has served Fredman Bag in just about every type of position. He started as a bag machine operator in our Converting Department. He moved to Shipping for a year and then to the Printing Department, where he served as an assistant and later a Press Operator. He also learned to mount plates and played the role of backup Ink Technician. During this time, he also trained dozens of assistants and operators. Add in about two years working in our Maintenance Department and David has worked in just about every position on the floor. This 16-year journey led him to his current role of Production Manager.

We sat down with David and asked him a few questions:

 What led you to work at Fredman Bag?
My brother-in-law had worked at Fredman Bag for about 10 years and said it was a good place to work and had a family-focused atmosphere. He still works here and has been here for over 25 years!

 What does a typical day look like for you?
I oversee all areas of production including Converting, Printing, Mounting and the Ink room. Some of my day-to-day tasks include:

• Nurturing, focusing and supporting the entire Fredman Bag team
• Optimizing crewing and staffing levels
• Interviewing, hiring, training and developing staff
• Optimizing production and solving day-to-day issues
• Facilitating and supporting continuous improvement efforts
• Supporting our employee safety, food safety, quality and environmental programs
• Negotiating purchasing agreements for Printing and Converting supplies and maintaining those inventories
• Addressing anything else that might arise that needs attention

What are you most passionate about at work?
The thing that drives me the most is supporting and developing people at work and at home to help them become the best people they can be so they can be successful in whatever challenges they take on. We have a lot of great people at Fredman Bag! I thoroughly enjoy helping make their jobs easier so that we can be successful in supporting not only our customers’ needs, but our community’s needs as well.

 What activities do you enjoy in your spare time?
I am a proud husband and father of four kids (with a fifth on the way!) and love every minute I get with them. Whether it’s swimming, watching movies, playing sports or teaching my oldest how to drive the lawn tractor, I wouldn’t trade that time with them for anything in the world.

 Tell us something that others may not know about you.
I am a certified Scuba Instructor / Dive Master. I lived on the island of Utila, Honduras for a couple of months to get certified to train other Scuba Divers. While there I dove with eagle rays, sting rays, an octopus, moray eels, dolphins and even swam within an arm’s length of a 20’ whale shark, as it came at us with its mouth wide open. What a thrill!