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I am on a road trip this week and am writing this blog from a musty hotel room somewhere south of St. Louis. A couple of days ago, I was visiting with Jim Burress, paint department manager, Landmark Aviation in Springfield, IL. Me and fellow AMT team member Bob Graf walked around with Jim for almost three hours as he showed us the different areas of the facility. Of course his pride and joy was the paint department and the new state-of-the-art paint facility. A self-proclaimed “anal” paint manager, he was involved in all aspects of the design of the paint hangar, and it showed. It was truly designed with all stakeholders in mind. The painters have the tools they have to do their jobs properly; the booths are designed to provide the perfect painting environment, ensuring customers are happy with the end product.

Being a self-proclaimed “anal” aviation buff, he had several interesting methods of management. One of the things that caught my attention was a board that Jim maintains in one of his offices. It is a board that has all of the tasks and skills needed to work in the hangar. Everything is tracked by the supervisor and employee. It lists the strengths (and weaknesses) of each employee. “This employee ranks himself as a 10 out of 100 in regards to training others,” shared Burress. “So I know not to ask him to train a new employee. I go to someone that has the skills to do that and wants to help in this area. That way, I’m not setting anyone up for failure. At the same time, if they rate themselves as a 100 out of 100, I expect them to be knowledgeable in all aspects of that task or subject area.

“Another thing I’m picky about is housekeeping,” says Burress. He said that if employees don’t have the discipline to keep their work area clean and clean up after themselves, they don’t need to be working on multimillion dollar aircraft. He gives them all the tools they need to do their job. He expects them to use them properly and holds them accountable for their actions.

It was one of the most organized facilities I have ever seen. The painted aircraft coming out were truly amazing. I learned a lot from Jim and hope to share more about him and his paint department in the future.

Thanks for reading!

Joe Escobar