fetzers 50th

  • February 4, 2014
  • 378
                        
On Friday, February 17, 2014 Ron Fetzer will officially reach 50 years of service with The Wooster Brush Company. Ten days earlier, on February 7, Wooster Brush will be honoring him and his golden anniversary achievement with a picnic-style lunch for all employees. After graduating from Norwayne high school in 1963, Ron went to work for a local plumber. “During that summer I worked on a job for The Brush in the upstairs of the original building—taking out some of the old air lines. When summer turned into fall and I turned 18, I filled out applications at three companies in the area: Bauer Ladder, Astro Metallurgical, and Wooster Brush. I actually went to work at Bauer Ladder, then a week later The Brush called me. I gave Bauer a notice, and two days later Astro called me. Jobs were a little bit easier to come by in those days.” For his first two years at Wooster Brush, Ron worked in Receiving in the Shipping Department. After being offered an opportunity to move into the Bristle Mixing department, he would spend the next 31 years running synthetic and bristle mixing machines—blending the raw stock prior to brush assembly. For the last 17 years Ron has served as the setup person and troubleshooter for the mixing machines. Most recently, for two years, some of the duties of his position have been expanded into the warehouse. In his five decades of service Ron has had several different supervisors: Bob Weiler, Wayne Schmid, Clayton Jolliff, Bill Ferguson, Gene Houmard, Shawn Cannon, and Brad Latimer. Even though Wooster Brush has only had nine presidents, Ron has worked under six of them. “The expansion and growth of the building and our choice of products has been huge,” Ron observed. “I’ve seen old buildings come down and new ones go up. I’ve witnessed the change of manufacturing through the addition and expansion of automation. When it comes to the staff, I feel like I now know more retirees than employees. The amount of innovation that has occurred during my time here is amazing. But one thing that I can say that has not changed during my time here is our commitment to quality. Quality is a top priority at Wooster; it always has been and continues to be.” Fifty years creates a fair amount of memories. “I’ve had a lot of good friends and good coworkers over these last 50 years. In my early years here I played ball and bowled with coworkers—I always took part in those extracurricular activities. In the 2008 bicentennial parade I had the chance to represent our company’s founder, Adam Foss, on a float.” When asked about his plans for the future he said, “Retirement is on my mind every day. I’m certainly thinking about it, but I haven’t set a date yet. I plan to in the near future. I’m not tired of working, but 50 may just be enough years. When that day comes I’ll probably have to get used to not coming to work.” Ron already knows of a few ways that he may fill his hours once he punches out for the last time, “I’d like to do more fishing than I do now. Probably relax for a bit, too. I enjoy landscaping—I’m outside a lot. We also have ten grandkids; I always enjoy going to their sporting activities and things.” Over the course of The Wooster Brush Company’s 163-year history, Ron Fetzer is the 14th employee to reach the half-century milestone. Wooster Brush is known around the area to have an exceptionally high retention rate. The current average length of service for all 500+ Wooster Brush employees is 17 years.


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