NPCA’s Best Practices Awards recognize innovations on the production floor that have far-reaching benefits. These awards were created to recognize and share industry improvements that showcase ways to fix inefficiencies, lower environmental impact and save money.
The awards are sponsored by Concrete Sealants.
Organizations that operate in a family environment can change in many ways as each generation enters the business. For Atlantic TNG LLC, the next generation alluded to by its name is Megan Kitchner, a third-generation precaster who launched her own division of the family business in 2011 in Sarasota, Florida and has been working hard to ensure the business thrives for many more generations to come.
“We serve as an active member in various committees and boards that work for the advancement of the precast concrete industry,” says Kitchner. We’re committed to employee education while actively participating in Florida’s PCSA and NPCA at the national level.”
Being part of a family business is unlike any other job. It is instilled in you from a young age and training begins long before you set foot on the site or in the office. The language and terminology, ethos and determination; this is all shared in a casual and unofficial way. For many, it is a path that is laid out, the road map of an industry that is already part of you. Intergenerational businesses benefit because continuity, a much wanted feature in any company, is ingrained from childhood. What happens, however, when a family business closes, leaving the people that have invested their lives in a company with a difficult decision to make? For Megan Kitchner, there was an obvious choice and that was to start The Next Generation.
Teamwork and camaraderie are not innate aspects of a workforce and cannot be established quickly or easily. They take time, effort and investment to build and must be continually fostered as personnel and the outside environment change. However, for business owners and managers who succeed in creating them, the rewards are many. For Megan Kitchner, building them on the precast plant floor requires a two-pronged approach that incorporates both emotional and physical elements. For example, using positive reinforcement instead of negative reinforcement helps her create an enjoyable and productive work atmosphere in her role as general manager at Sarasota, Fla.-based Atlantic TNG.
Kitchner recalls going to work at the plant with her dad when she was 8 years old. She loved everything, down to the smell of the dirt. She started working there after college, first as a clerical office assistant, and then worked her way up to run sales.
But her thoughts were on survival, not nostalgia, when she first bought the company.
Kitchner visited some of the firm's biggest clients, and told them about her vision for the future. That included branching out into new product lines and working with suppliers and vendors on contracts and terms, given many construction supply companies were also in big-time struggle mode.
With a dedicated, knowledgeable staff TNG provides reliability where it matters most: quality precast,superior customer service, and on–time deliveries.
Accepting the responsibility to partner in a project is not something taken lightly with TNG. Customer loyalty and satisfaction have to be earned on every job. This means working with the customer to meet extremely tight schedules, looking at different design possibilities, committing to delivery schedules, and being honest and accountable.
