Eric Rojo

It should come as no surprise to anyone that it’s cheaper to send three trucks containing Western Window Systems products to Texas each week than it is to send four.

Thanks to shipping cost analyst Eric Rojo’s questioning of the company’s shipping process, Western Window Systems now saves time, money, and resources by sending three full trucks containing both Volume Program and Custom products to Texas each week instead of four not-quite-full trucks separated by the two channels.

“Eric has worked with shipping to understand how we load trucks,” says Kraig Hoekstra, manufacturing engineering manager. “And he found that a lot of our time is spent locating and sorting, so he started making maps to load trailers.”

When Eric started with the company in May 2017, his position had just been created, so it was new to everyone involved.

“We had a goal but not a path to get there,” says Hoekstra. “Eric came in not knowing our business and realized he had a lot to learn. And he did learn.”

Since then, among other things, he’s set a goal of having the shipping schedule drive the manufacturing schedule, so that everything goes to the shipping department in the order in which it needs to be loaded.

And Eric is now known as someone willing to ask for help to be better and willing to get his hands dirty to understand everyone’s job better. And that has certainly streamlined some of the shipping processes.

“We aren’t there yet,” says Hoekstra, “but we are so much better than before, partly because of Eric. Is it easier to load a truck now than it was this time last year? Hell yeah.”

Congratulations to Eric Rojo, Western Window Systems’ office employee of the month for April.

Learn more about Eric Rojo by reading his Q&A:

Where are you from?
El Paso, Texas.

What song best sums you up?
“Spottie Ottie Dopalicious” by OutKast. (“I like the trumpets.”)

What is your favorite sport to watch or play?
Basketball.

What are your hobbies?
Volunteering, exercising, reading, helping others.

Who do you look up to or admire?
Jesus Christ.

Where do you most want to travel but have never been?
Japan.

If money were no object, what would you do all day?
Donate my time for a good cause, help others, and travel the world.

What is your favorite family recipe?
Chile relleno.

What’s your favorite movie?
The Godfather Trilogy and Kill Bill.

What is your biggest success up until now?
Keeping it real!

What’s your favorite part of working at Western Window Systems?
Being able to be creative.

What is one fun fact about you that almost no one knows?
I’m named after the Viking “Erik the Red.”