We’re engineers, global sourcing gurus, customer service superheroes, and more — but we’re also real people. In our blog series, “Employee Spotlight”, you’ll meet MPI employees, learn about their background and roles, and discover what they like most about working at MPI.
This month David Hernandez celebrates his two year work-a-versary. With a few questions, let’s get a little insight into our Materials Manager.
What has your experience been with our company culture?
We have impromptu lunch outings, we celebrate everyone’s birthday, mid-summer BBQs, chili cook offs and have a big Christmas party at the end of the year.
We are a small group and its important we work together to achieve our goals, but It is always nice to have some time to get together and enjoy a Barbeque with coworkers and upper management outside of our normal professional setting.
It allows people the opportunity to unwind and step away from the stressors that come with our business. This is a big focus at Mechanical Power.
What is your favorite thing about working at MPI?
The focus on the employee environment. This sort of goes to my first answer, but MPI likes to focus on employee environment just as much as the business itself.
What I noticed with Mechanical Power is that because upper management focuses on their employees well-being, the employees work hard for the company.
What is the favorite part about your job?
The freedom to make decisions for my department.
In three words, how would a friend describe you?
Loyal, Respectful and Persistent
MPI likes to focus on employee environment just as much as the business itself. What I noticed with Mechanical Power is that because upper management focuses on their employees well-being, the employees work hard for the company.
What has been your the biggest “lesson learned“ in the past 2 years?
The biggest lesson that I learned since joining the MPI team is that the Long shoreman and trucking companies have the power to shut down the entire economy.
The more important lesson learned is stress management, the work will always be there the next day or the next week. It is important step away for a night or a weekend and come back later.
Issues will always come up , that is the nature of the business we are in, but if you continually try and resolve all issues at once you can potentially make things worse especially in today’s current economic climate.
What kinds of resources have you taken advantage of while on our team?
Knowledge from other team members. Ocean Logistics was new to me, but our team possesses a great wealth of knowledge and has always been willing to share.
If there’s one thing you could improve, what would it be?
The current cost of raw material! Or the bottleneck at the port of LA or the processing time of containers on China’s side… Any one of these items would help our business run smoother, but we’ve pushed through and will continue to push through as a team.
What’s your favorite food?
This might be the hardest question on here. I don’t think I have had a better dish than a Lou Malnati’s deep dish pizza. There really isn’t a dish that can compete.
Daniel Szwed - Marketing Manager
Resourceful and innovative Marketing Pro, with 20+ years of progressive experience in the marketing and creative technology industry. Responsible for digital and traditional marketing efforts that promotes brand awareness, increases engagement, and drives revenue.
